Avatar: Game of Spirits
by TexasBean
Summary: A malevolent Spirit decides to have some twisted fun and traps the Avatar and his friends in another World. The Spirit forces the Straw Hat crew and the captain of the Heart Pirates to play his twisted game in order for Aang and his friends to get home, and the pirates to get back on their intended course. Now, it's a race against time for the Straw Hats to get Team Avatar home.
1. In which the Spirits are bored

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything One Piece or Avatar: the Last Airbender. I only own what comes out of my imagination. (Although if I owned either of these fandoms, how cool would that be?)**

**Random Thought: Did you know that Charlie Chaplin lost a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest? What if somewhere the owner(s) of awesome fandoms write their own fanfictions and they get criticized by fans for being too OOC and unoriginal with their own characters?**

**A/N: Hello, Readers! Just to let you know, the first chapter focuses on a few OCs in the Spirit World, and the Gaang shows up in the next chapter. And the Straw Hats don't show up until a few chapters in.**

**A/N: Please enjoy the story! X~**

* * *

_Chapter One: In which the Spirits are bored_

A Spirit named Pukje sat on his pedestal and sighed deeply. He was quite bored, and had annoyed Ko for a while, but that could only last so long. Pukje couldn't get his full enjoyment out of tormenting that Face-Stealer, because he was putting himself at risk as well. He didn't want his face stolen and wasn't able to express himself to his heart's content, so he only left Ko alone due to his own inability to react (although he was sure that Ko thought he himself had driven the trouble-making Spirit away).

Pukje had darkly tanned skin, pointed ears, a pointy hat and a pointy beard. His clothes did not match the normal Eastern clothing the Spirits of this part of the Spirit World wore. Out of boredom, Pukje had made his way to this area of the Spirit World, and was fascinated by who and what he saw. Quite certainly, he could have some fun here. But the majority of the Spirits here were old and rather stingy in his opinion, and the only other Spirit that was young (and beautiful) was the Moon Spirit, but she didn't seem to want to have anything to do with the trouble-making Spirit that had come from a faraway land. She was mean and stingy too.

Pukje decided to get up and go for a walk, determining that if he was unable to find some form of entertainment, he would return to his section of the Spirit World and find some sort of chaos he could cause there. He walked through thick branches, vines, and trees, before he heard voices. He decided to follow these voices, and came upon a clearing.

Rays of light poked through the holes in the forest ceiling, showering light into a circular pond that had green-tinted water, but it was so clear that one could see the bottom, and it was impressive at how deep the water was. Giant lily pads floated across the surface, and numerous giant koi and catfish swam in circles in the water. Pukje shuddered momentarily at the realization that those fish could easily swallow him in one bite.

He looked up and noticed hundreds, if not thousands of glassy-looking bubbles floated about in the clearing, just above the water. The bubbles were different colors, and had numerous symbols and people that shuffled through them at a rapid pace. He also noticed odd threads that seemed to allow the bubbles to float about freely, but also keep them in place high above the water.

Pukje was so enamored by the sight before him; he didn't even realize the other Spirits that were sitting on the roots of the trees, the rocks jutting out of the pond, and the ones sitting on the lily pads.

"What do you want?" asked a woman's voice, Pukje looked and saw a strange, Cat-like woman sitting on a rock, her feet soaking in the pond.

"Perhaps he is a type of food," a Weasel smoking a long pipe replied, puffing out wisps of smoke.

A large and rather fat Dragon of the North was coiled on the roots of the trees, steam rising from his body from the coolness of the pond, and smoke coming from his nostrils clouded his face, but his glowing yellow eyes peered through the smoke, making him look very threatening.

"He looks too chewy to be a delectable morsel…" the Dragon said with a toothy grin. "He might give whoever eats him a stomach ache. It wouldn't be worth it."

"Perhaps he is lost," a very small child-like Spirit chipped in; her red cloak ruffled as she shook drops of water from it.

Another Spirit that looked just like the red-cloaked one (except her cloak was blue) spoke up, "If he is lost, will he ever be found?"

"Well, what if he doesn't want to be found?" Red-Cloak questioned.

"Then this place is perfect," Blue-Cloak replied, "No one who wants to be found ever ends up here on accident."

The two continued talking to each other in riddles and whispers, so the other Spirits turned their attention back to Pukje.

A Kelpie-looking Spirit rose up out of the water, and Pukje jumped back in surprise accompanied by an "Aahhh!" as he could have sworn with how clear the water was, the Kelpie-Spirit should have been visible.

"Who are you?" the Kelpie-Spirit questioned in a deep voice of authority.

"I'm Pukje, a Spirit of trouble making, and chaos, (I very well deserve that title mind you, unlike that misshapen Discord Spirit)" Pukje said, quickly managing to find his tongue. (Although he did this quite literally by removing his cap, reaching in, and pulling out a tongue so he could stuff it into his mouth.)

The other Spirits made faces at Pukje's little joke, and each rolled their eyes.

The others introduced themselves as well; the Cat-Spirit was called Neko-Mi, the Weasel-Spirit was called Fuko, the Dragon was called Sever, the Kelpie-Spirit was called Cyprus, and was the Guardian of the Pond. The two little Spirits were called Van and Ish, two little creatures that caused things to be misplaced.

"What is this place?" Pukje asked, genuinely fascinated. Cyprus could see this and felt a sense of pride and a need to explain what this place was, especially to newcomers willing to listen.

Cyprus explained that this was the Wood between the Worlds. Each bubble was a different World, with cultures and languages that were nearly endless. Each world of course, had its own door, if Cyprus allowed it to be opened, but there were certain terms and conditions that had to take place before he could open any doors in any world that he pleased. Rules that stated those doors had to be in water, on nights with a full moon on certain months and seasons of the year depending on the rule, of course when Cyprus started talking about these rules, Pukje felt that he was falling asleep. So he quickly changed the subject to something else.

"Can you open a World now?"

"From a select few hundred, yes I can," Cyprus responded with a sense of pride.

"Cyprus, why must you tell your guests everything about this place," Sever said with a sigh, "It holds them hostage you know, and isn't very polite."

"Oh, but I'm interested," Pukje insisted. "You see, I was trying to think of a good trick to play on a few of the Spirits here (they're so uptight, you know) and a thought has occurred to me. I haven't played a decent joke or had some fun with humans in quite a while. So I'm very bored, yes, quite bored."

The other Spirits eyed Pukje curiously as he talked. Pukje continued, "I imagine you are quite bored too, after all it seems that I am the most interesting thing that has happened to any of you in a good while, seeing as how the good Cyprus is more than happy to tell me of how his Guardianship works."

The other Spirits looked at each other, and then back at the Troublemaker.

"What are you getting at?" Neko-Mi said with a stretch and a sigh. "Hurry up and make your point."

Pukje couldn't help but smile. "I propose a lovely, most naughty proposition. Choose a small group of humans from one world, and thrust them into another. Of course, the first group must be able to find their way back home, but not without having to traverse the second world in order to find their way back. Hopefully whoever they run into first will be willing to help them."

Pukje hadn't played a prank of this level on any human or human groups before. He rubbed his hands together in the hopes that these Spirits would play along.

Fuko breathed deeply and smiled, "It certainly sounds interesting," he said, releasing a plume of smoke. "I haven't seen anything of the sort before in all my years; it could be fun to watch."

Sever let out a growling snicker, and he grinned a very wide grin, showing his silvery teeth. "Why not, Cyprus?" Sever's eyes glistened with the excitement that this chaos could potentially bring. "What's the harm?"

Cyprus cocked his head as if he were thinking, and brought up a hoof to his chin. "It's not like I'm going to crush any of the worlds if I were to pull a few residents from one to the other."

Pukje's grin was now mixed with a sense of mischievousness, glad that these fellow Spirits were willing to play along with his game.

"May I be so bold as to request choosing the two worlds with which we will be playing our little game?" Pukje asked, his eyes glistening.

"Since it was your idea, Troublemaker, I don't see why not." Cyprus replied. He then turned to the other Spirits saying, "What say the rest of you?"

"I agree that the Troublemaker gets to choose," Fuko said, "he's been the only interesting thing to happen these last few centuries."

Neko-Mi only nodded, and Sever smiled his agreement. Van and Ish ran in circles singing, "Let's play a game! A funny, fun type of game! Who and what and where will they all go?"

Numerous bubbles floated down towards them, and Cyprus said, "These are the select few hundred that I am able to traverse right now, and those that I can traverse in a few weeks in their timelines. The Lunar and Solar Solstices are aligned in order for me to do so."

Pukje studied each of the bubbles, and pointed out one of the bubbles. "What about that one? What is it?"

"It is a World of Ocean; Four Oceans with hundreds, if not thousands of islands…," answered Cyprus.

Neko-Mi interrupted the process when she asked, "What about the World of Four Nations, is that one open?"

Cyprus nodded yes, and Neko-Mi then said to Pukje, "You should pick that one as the first world. Send some people from there to the one you just picked."

"That one will do as well," Pukje said, agreeing with Neko-Mi, "and now I will go to the Land of Four Nations and find our players."

"I may know some people you can pick, but if you do, you will have to let help come to them in the World of Ocean." Neko-Mi stated. "It makes your job easy and things very interesting, although finding people who will help the players in the World of Oceans will be a challenge."

"I'll find someone for that job," said Cyprus, who was getting eager to get the game started. "Who did you have in mind as the players, Neko-Mi?"

The Cat-Spirit grinned, much like a Cheshire cat and replied, "Why, the five heroes of the Land of Four Nations. This is why you have to help them in the World of Four Oceans—that silly Moon Spirit will never let me or any of us hear the end of it if something were to happen to any one of them."

Fuko and Sever both laughed, and their laughing echoed through the trees. Fuko was the first of the two to recover, "This will be ever so interesting!"

"So they will be able to get back, right?" questioned Neko-Mi, once the laughter had died down. She did not express any concern, only mild curiosity.

Cyprus nodded, "There is an island that will allow them access back to their world. It is simply a matter of finding it. Once I find the right people to hand the five heroes over to, Troublemaker can explain everything to them; the rules and what not, and will be able to give them what they need in order to find the island to get back home."

"Then it should be quite easy," said Neko-Mi. "It is just around the time that they are celebrating the first anniversary of the end of the 100 year war. It will be the perfect distraction and the perfect excuse to get them alone."

She pulled out a glass ball from her robes, and let it float from her hand to hover in front of Pukje. The images of five people flashed in the ball, showing him who he was looking for.

"Their names are as follows; Avatar Aang, Fire Lord Zuko, Toph Beifong, and the siblings Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe."

Pukje's eyes glistened with all the maliciousness that was in his body. He wasn't sure who or what this Avatar person was, but that didn't matter. He sounded important, and playing cruel pranks on important people made his job all the more fun. Important people always thought themselves to be high-and-mighty, untouchable, and undeserving of whatever he dished out. To play pranks on these types of people made Pukje laugh, because quite often, these important people had their titles stripped away and were left with nothing.

"Why them?" questioned Fuko. "I mean, it's the Avatar; I don't think we want to be messing with him…"

Neko-Mi's hair bristled, and she replied with a hint of a hiss, "It matters not! Let's just say one of the Avatar's past lives and myself have a very nasty history. I swore that I would make that giant witch pay for what she did to me. I say it's about time I keep that promise."

Cyprus considered this information carefully; this was the Avatar and his fellow heroes they were talking about displacing. _Why not?_ The Avatar had disappeared before. Why not again? Besides, this was quite interesting, and Cyprus wanted to see what would happen with the Avatar and his friends. This was going to be fun.

Cyprus then whinnied, and dove into the water for a few minutes, and literally disappeared when his full body was covered by the water. When he came back up, a giant catfish and a giant koi were with him. The two fish were the biggest of all of the catfish and koi fish in the pond, and both wore jinbei, also making them the only fish to wear any clothing. Cyprus explained to them what they were doing, and they nodded their understanding.

The catfish was called, "Nyuryoku Suru" (to enter) while the koi fish was called, "Shuryo Suru" (to exit).

"It shouldn't take me too long," Pukje said with an affirmative nod. "I'm able to get back and forth quite easily on my own. I just can't transport people with me."

Nyuryoku and Shuryo handed Pukje strange tags with symbols on them, and Nyuryoku explained, "Once you have them in water, these tags will exit them out of one world, in order to enter into the other."

After nodding his understanding, Pukje put the tags into his jacket, took off his hat and pulled something out that looked like a ring. He then stepped through the ring and into the Land of Four Nations.

* * *

**So, what do you think? The Gaang will be showing up next chapter. Please wait for it! X~**


	2. The Celebration Interrupted

**A/N: I intended to have this up on July 4, but I spent the day volunteering at a festival, and then came home too tired to even do the things I most enjoy. So, happy belated Independence Day, America! And for the other countries of the world, I hope you had an amazing July 4th.**

**Now onto the story- Please enjoy and drop me a review!**

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_Chapter Two: The Celebration Interrupted_

Katara quickly made her way through the crowded streets of the local marketplace, heading towards the village square towards her intended destination. Vendors selling their wares shouted out to potential customers, trying to drown each other out. Their voices just barely carried over the sounds of laughter, music, and the crowd chattering amongst friends and family, and the noises all seemed to blend into a sort of energetic ball of energy that could be felt throughout.

Searching for the meeting place that Aang had told her to go to, she weaved in and out of the crowd, heading for the large fountain where she was to meet up with Sokka, Suki, Aang, and Toph. Because of previous appointments, Katara had to leave later than everyone else. The same could be said for Fire Lord Zuko, who was busy elsewhere. He and Uncle Iroh were going to meet up with them at the theater later that evening.

She wore somewhat traditional Southern water-tribe style clothing, having it redesigned so she would be able to wear it in a warm climate like the Fire Nation. Katara had pulled her hair up into a ponytail, recalling the time Aang had said he thought she looked kind of cute with her hair pulled back. Katara also made sure to wear the hairpin that Aang had gotten for her too.

"Katara, over here!" Toph called to her. Of course the blind earthbender would be the first to know she arrived. Aang was dressed in his traditional Air Nomad robes, and Toph had dressed up as well, who was only making an exception in this case because it was an important event; the first anniversary of the end of the 100-year war. This event represented a new era of peace, and many people were overjoyed and were getting into the festivities with much flourish.

It was obvious by the style of dress chosen by the different people in the crowd that they had come from the Water-Tribes and Earth Kingdom. If anyone had asked Katara a few years ago if she had thought it was possible that the Nations could come together like they were doing now, she probably would have said yes, even if the person asking would have thought her to be crazy. This was the kind of thing that she thought she could only dream of. But this was real; and it felt amazing.

At a nearby booth, Sokka was getting some type of skewered meat, along with a side of flirtatious hero worship. The girl who was working at the booth was giving Sokka quite a bit of praise, and he was just eating it up, while Suki watched them with an annoyed look. She looked as if she wanted to use some of her Tessenjutsu on the girl. Sokka was agreeing with everything the girl said about him, "Yes," "Why, yes! Of course I am!"

The girl then asked mischievously, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

A whole new look of appreciation and love came over Suki's face when Sokka grabbed her and pulled her close, saying, "Yes, I do."

The girl eyed Suki almost disapprovingly, while Suki looked at the girl with a look that said, _"Yeah, that's right. He's __**mine.**__"_

The flirtatious girl's disapproving look disappeared just as quickly as it had come, before mumbling, "Well, thank you for coming. It was an honor to serve you."

Sokka and Suki joined with the others, Sokka looking very happy to get as much of the skewered meat as he did.

At the sight of Katara, Aang smiled at her and said, "You look great, Katara… I'm glad you like the hair pin." Katara smiled and brushed at her hair nervously, and blushed. "Thanks, I love it," Aang and Katara looked at each other, both drowning out the sounds around them. Their moment was interrupted by Toph, "Alright, you two. Enough of the love-y dove-y; Let's go."

The group of five quickly made their way through the crowd, so that they wouldn't be late in meeting up with Zuko. Because they were considered royal guests, they had ended up staying at the palace with Zuko. Currently, Appa was getting spoiled by the stable workers at the palace (particularly one boy whom Appa was very affectionate towards. The boy was also more than happy to do anything and everything for Appa). Momo was more than happy to stay with Aang, and happily rode on the Avatar's shoulder. He hungrily eyed some of the treats that the other vendors were selling.

Aang approached one of the vendors who was selling a variety of desserts, and asked to buy a few. He didn't want to risk Momo angering one of the vendors if he tried to steal some of their food.

"Oh, I can't ask the Avatar to pay for his food!" the man said, almost as if it was a ridiculous notion that the Avatar pay for anything at all. So Aang selected a few of the treats, and left the man a rather generous tip. He simply wanted to be sure that he didn't take advantage of people's kindness because of who and what he was.

Upon seeing this, the man quickly bowed and said, "Oh, thank you, Avatar Aang! Your generosity knows no bounds!"

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, they met up with Zuko and Iroh who were waiting in front of the theater where the _Ember Island Players _were putting on a special play dedicated to Fire Lord Zuko and Avatar Aang. They hadn't seen the Fire Lord and his Uncle in almost three months, and a lot had happened in that time for the both of them. They all hugged each other as good friends do that haven't seen each other for long periods of time. None of them had a chance to talk because a short man came out from the theater, and his eyes widened when he saw them.

"Oh! Fire Lord Zuko and Avatar Aang!" he said, quickly walking over to them and bowing. He was rather rotund, wore black and white robes, and had a pointed nose, a balding head, and spectacles, making him look rather like a strange sort of penguin. "Welcome, welcome," he was saying, "I'm Lee Yen, assistant to Master Po Ren, the writer and producer of tonight's play. He's reserved seats just for you,"

They were given the best seats in the house, right next to the playwright, Po Ren. He kindly offered them drinks, and Uncle Iroh happily accepted his offer for tea.

The play consisted of a few of the conquests that Aang and Zuko had done after the war had ended, although everything was done on an overly dramatic scale. A few events that didn't even happen found their way into the play, and it was made worse due to the glances the honored guests were getting from Po Ren, who was seeing whether or not they were laughing or crying at those particular moments throughout the entire play.

When the play finally ended and the audience gave a standing ovation, everyone was more than relieved. Aang and Zuko did their part when Po Ren came up to their group and asked them, "So, Fire Lord Zuko, Avatar Aang, what did you think? I hope I captured the true heart and soul of your adventures. No, conquests."

"W-why yes," Zuko started, "Yes, you did. It honors me that you would dedicate your play to us."

"We are very grateful," Aang agreed. "I thank you and the Ember Island Players for your hard work and dedication in honoring us."

Po Ren laughed, obviously flattered by their words, said, "Oh, it was difficult, but thanks to the hard work of my assistant and the actors, this was made possible."

"We should be going," Katara said quickly, being able to tell that both Zuko and Aang (along with everyone else) really wanted to leave. "While we would love to stay and chat, we're expected elsewhere. I'm afraid we can't be late."

"Oh, yes. I understand," Po Ren stated with a nod, "You don't want to miss your other appointments. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening. Thank you again for coming. I bid you farewell."

The others looked at Katara with relief and gratitude, and said their goodbyes as well.

* * *

Because the play had taken quite a long time, the group figured that they could just eat something at the pier, and have more of a celebratory breakfast instead of dinner. As they walked, Aang told Zuko and Iroh about a group of people he had met who were huge fans of the Avatar and Air Nomads in general. "I'm calling them Air Acolytes," Aang said. He went on to tell Zuko about how it had started as a fan club, but now it was going to be something official.

Zuko went on to tell Aang about how restorations were going, and how he was working to help heal the land and promote peace between the Nations.

As the group headed to the pier, they happened to stop at a very strange carriage that had a stage set up. People were talking about it, wondering who was running this show. A short man came out onto the stage, he was short (sort of around Aang's height) his face hidden by the hood of his elaborately decorated robes, and only a long white beard stuck out from the hood, coming almost to the man's feet. With a clear voice, he began to sing a song about mirrors, numerous worlds, and traveling. While Iroh seemed to listen and take genuine interest in whatever the man was singing about, the others felt bored out of their minds. This man did not seem to make any sense to any of them. After a few more songs, he made his way into the crowd, and stopped right in front the Avatar and his group.

"You…" he pointed at them with a long and bony tanned finger, and continued with a raspy breath, "There is something about you. I do believe you will need these."

He then handed Aang and his group strange glass balls that had a strange tint to them. Each one of them felt a strange sensation come over them. Toph had never felt such a cool, smooth, and strange glass surface before. She felt as if there was something more to the glass balls that the man handed them then what he was saying. For a moment, she felt rather dizzy, but the feeling soon passed and was forgotten in a matter of seconds.

"They will guide you," he was saying. "Now I bid you farewell," and just like that, he packed up his stage and rode away, disappearing into the crowd.

"Well, that was weird." Sokka said, and he stuffed the glass ball into his pocket.

Toph felt as if she were hearing voices come from the glass ball, but because of the noise from the crowd she couldn't be sure. It was at this moment that something came over all of them, sort of like a dream. The group made their way down to the docks so that they could watch the fireworks.

On the way, they passed a few more vendors trying to sell their wares, and Iroh saw something and called out, "Wait!"

The others followed close behind him and saw the reason for his sudden need to stop. He stood at a tea merchant's kiosk, admiring the assortment of teas. The merchant had an odd smile as he welcomed them, "Welcome, friends and heroes of the Four Nations,"

Toph flinched, because for a moment the man sounded just like the strange storyteller. But for some reason, the thought was pushed to the back of her mind. Since she didn't know that the storyteller from earlier was wearing robes, a part of her simply figured that if it was in fact the same man, somebody else would say something.

"Go on ahead without me," Uncle Iroh said, after taking a sip of tea. His nephew and the others either rolled their eyes or smiled knowingly. They simply decided to leave Iroh to his own devices, and go on to the pier.

As they continued on their way to the pier, a voice called out to them, "Hello, folks!" At first they didn't stop, because there were people all around them and that greeting could have been directed at anyone. But the voice called out to them again, and this time they turned towards its owner; a very familiar, strange-looking man sat at a makeshift desk with a large glass ball and a deck of tarot cards. The man smiled a very wicked smile, and said, "Won't you have your fortunes told?"

"I would!" Suki said optimistically. She then turned to the others, "I'll catch up, okay?" She gave Sokka a peck on the cheek, and turned back to the fortuneteller. "Tell me about my future; romantic and family-wise. Can you do that?"

"Why, yes I can child," the fortuneteller answered, "just let me see the palm of your hand."

Zuko, who had made it a personal responsibility of his to remember faces thought that this fortuneteller looked very much like a certain tea merchant. But that suspicion left as quickly as it had come. _There's no way, _Zuko reasoned with himself. _There's no way that they can be the same people._

So they ended up leaving Suki behind, and they reached the pier without any other incident.

* * *

There was already a crowd waiting to rent boats so that they could paddle out in the water in order to watch the fireworks. A dockworker saw the group, and called out a greeting, "Fire Lord! Avatar! How are you?" He quickly bowed to them, "And hello to the warrior Sokka of the Southern Watertribe, and warm greetings to Miss Katara and Miss Beifong. I'm Moe. Allow me to lead you to your boat,"

As he led them, Moe kept looking up at the clear night sky, as if he were expecting something.

"Is anything wrong?" Katara asked, but the man shook his head and sighed.

"Not sure. Feels like stormy weather, but not a cloud in sight. It just feels off, not sure how to explain it. Anyway, I'm sure it's nothing. But pressure like this… makes you wonder if the Spirits are moving."

They followed the dockworker in silence to a very funny looking man who was waiting in a strange boat. The man had such strange clothing, that he looked rather out of place. The boat looked long and flat, and was adorned with tags that had strange symbols written on them. The dockworker smiled, and told the group that he was guiding, "This is Puk Joo, and he will be rowing you and your guests out to the designated area."

"Ah, heroes!" Puk Joo said, smiling widely and bowing deeply. "Please, get on board and make yourselves comfortable."

Zuko and Sokka helped Toph into the boat, but not before asking if she truly wanted to go. "I'll be fine," she insisted. "It's not like the water is flowing like crazy or anything (it's not right?) Anyway, I'd rather hang out here with you guys than wait here on the docks, or listen to some silly fortune teller, or drink tea."

"What kind of boat is this?" Katara asked, running a finger along the smooth, black-painted polished wood."

"It's a gondola," Puk Joo answered, he stood near the back of the boat and gently guided it to an area where people in other boats had lined up in anticipation of the fireworks.

Toph settled near the front of the gondola and laid back, lacing her fingers behind her head. Sokka tried to explain some of the fireworks to Toph, who only smiled and said, "That's okay Sokka, hanging out here with you guys is enough."

It wasn't even half an hour into the show when the gondola suddenly shook as if something bumped into it. Puk Joo lost his balance, but quickly regained it. Toph's eyes widened, and she sat up quickly. "Something just hit the boat,"

Bubbles formed around the gondola, and the water started making waves, pushing the other boats away, so that the gondola was at the center of the activity. Puk Joo peered into the water, and pointed at something. "What is that?"

Just then, the gondola was hit again, knocking Puk Joo down on top of Zuko. The boat then started spinning as a whirlpool began. Aang and Katara began to work together to waterbend as the shaking and the spinning got more violent. Momo clung tightly to Toph as she tried to fight against the bile that threatened to make its way up her throat. Other waterbenders started trying to help as well, but it was as if the water wasn't obeying any of their commands.

The boat stopped spinning rather violently, causing Aang and Katara to lose their balance and tumble awkwardly and painfully into each other. "Katara, are you alright?" Aang asked, after he caught his breath from Katara's head ramming into his stomach.

"Yeah…" Katara said, rubbing the area of her head which had hit Aang.

Sokka was about to ask, what was that? When the water shot up around them and a giant Koi fish wearing a jinbei rose up out of the water, and opened its mouth, swallowing the gondola and its riders in one gulp.

* * *

Everything was dark, and their boat had capsized. They held onto the gondola for dear life as it shook violently and they couldn't breathe, and for a brief moment there was a flash of green-tinted light, before it felt as if they were swallowed by something else. The darkness and the inability to breathe felt as if it had lasted forever, and nearly everyone was at their limit. Suddenly, the shaking stopped, and everything was at a still.

They could see streams of pale light glowing in the water, and since she was the closest one to him, Zuko grabbed Toph and pulled her atop the capsized boat. Both of them, especially Toph, gasped greedily for air, followed just a few seconds later by Aang, Katara, and Sokka.

Toph gagged and spit, and shouted, "What was that?!" When nobody answered her, she shouted at them again, this time grabbing Zuko's shoulder and saying, "What just happened?"

"I-I don't know…" Zuko said, his voice sounding funny. He was silent for a moment or two before continuing, "There was a giant Koi fish that swallowed us, and now…"

"Now what?!" Toph asked, getting frustrated at her friends for not telling her what was going on.

"We aren't in the Fire Nation anymore…" Sokka said, sounding as if he was still trying to process whatever was in front of him. "We're in a forest…"

"A forest? What do you mean, forest?" It was then Toph realized something; "Weren't we with somebody else? Where is he?"

"I don't know…" Zuko said, hesitantly. "I thought there was somebody else, but he's not here now… wherever 'here' is. I couldn't even see a thing when we were underwater."

Just in case, Zuko took a deep breath and dove underwater, searching for… what was his name again? As Zuko searched, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and all he could see were rocks and seaweed. He began to doubt that anyone else was with them. Whenever he tried to remember, it was like trying to remember a dream. When his lungs started to burn from lack of oxygen, he quickly swam to the surface and greedily drank in the air.

"There's nothing down there…" he said when he caught his breath again.

Afterwards, they swam to shore, and could see the full moon through a large hole in the forest ceiling, the moon reflected eerily on the large pond that they had somehow appeared in. From what they could see illuminated by the moonlight on all sides of them were strange trees that looked like oversized mushrooms, with smaller mushrooms of different kinds growing out from those. Tangled vines and what could have been branches blackened out the rest of the sky.

They could hear the cries of numerous creatures, causing involuntary shivers to go up and down their spines. Katara took the lead by saying, "Okay, let's go. Walk in a straight line and let's try to get out of here and see where we are."

Aang walked with Katara at the front, so he used his firebending to make a sort of torch, and Zuko did the same while at the back. The firelight somehow made things look more ominous, because they occasionally saw tiny, shining orbs in the trees and bushes, letting them know that they were being watched. Toph tried using her seismic sense to check for any other signs of life for something that wasn't an animal. After a while, she made a face. "I think we're on an island. I can smell saltwater."

They spent roughly 15 or more minutes walking before coming out onto a beach that had amazingly white sand. As far as they could see, there was nothing but ocean. The feeling and realization of being stranded in an unknown place was slowly dawning of them.

"We're gonna die~!" Sokka shouted, and a few creatures in the forest behind him seemed to answer him with their own howls and screeches.

"We aren't going to die, Sokka!" Katara berated her brother, "So just stop it and calm down. We'll figure something out, so just stop it!"

Sokka looked as if he wanted to argue, but instead gave in, and just said, "Okay…"

Taking charge in times like this was Katara's specialty, so she stepped up and told everyone what to do.

"Toph, make a tent for us to sleep in. Sokka, see if you can find us something to eat; there's got to be fish or something, make a fishing pole if you have to. Zuko, gather some firewood and start a campfire. Aang, come with me. I'm going back to the pond that we came out of. We can get some fresh water from there."

With everyone completing their assigned tasks, Katara hoped that keeping everyone busy would help them keep their minds off of whatever this situation was.

Katara and Aang worked together to waterbend (both very thankful that wherever they were had no affect on their bending) and brought a few gallons of water back to the beach, where Toph made a makeshift well to put the water into. Sokka was thankful that he always carried a knife on him, so he was able to make a spear, and about an hour later, they had a few small fish to eat.

Although the fire was comforting and seemingly kept the strange animals at bay, that didn't stop insects from biting them, and the sounds from the forest made them feel uneasy. The events of the night finally caught up to them, and so they headed into the makeshift tent for the night, intent on doing any explorations in the morning. Soon, all of them were asleep, worn out from the previous evening's events.

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A/N:~ Thank you to PainterofEmotions who was the first reviewer, and left a helpful tip that also gave me some ideas to help expand this story. Here is a bit of an answer to her review that didn't really have a question.

In the first chapter, Neko-Mi is described as smiling like a Cheshire Cat. Since that part of the story was semi-told through Pukje's POV, her smiling like that would be the only thing that he, the foreigner in that part of the Spirit World, would be able to compare her smile to would be the Cheshire Cat. The Spirit World is likely going to be sort of an AU as this story expands.

Can anyone guess who the stable boy is that loves Appa and Appa loves back?

And how do you get rid of characters that you don't really want to write for? Hypnosis, death, or complete non-existence? I felt like Suki and Iroh couldn't work in the One Piece World, and (SPOILERS) Mai broke up with Zuko anyway, (WHY?!) so convenient reason for her not being there or even mentioned.


	3. The Island and the Flying Pig

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or AtLA. Need it be said?**

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_Chapter Three: The Island and the Flying Pig_

Now that it was morning, everyone could have a better look at the strange forest into which they had somehow been transported. The trees did indeed look like gigantic mushrooms, with different types of mushrooms growing off of the stems (or trunks, in this case) and from what they could see underneath, the tops of the mushrooms were a variety of colors and patterns. The tops were so thick that they had meshed together, allowing for other things to grow underneath them. By using some earthbending, Aang built a staircase for them to walk up and look at the top of the mushroom forest.

The top was sort of like a large field due to all the plants that grew there, plus it gave the team somewhat of an idea of how big this place was. They saw a variety of strange animals as they walked across the top, Sokka eyed the creatures hungrily. But Katara took one look at them and said, a flat-out "NO."

The animals looked like they had mushrooms growing on them as well, making them look like moving plants. The fungus growths on the creatures were so thick the majority of the time that the only sign that a "plant" was a type of animal were the glowing eyes that peered out at them. No two creatures looked alike, so it made it difficult to distinguish one species from the other.

Katara recalled the time that Sokka had drank cactus juice, and definitely did not want that to happen again. She knew that some mushrooms could be poisonous, and she wasn't sure if that poison could transfer from the mushrooms to the animal. Since they weren't anywhere near a hospital, eating any of the animals here was a chance she wasn't willing to take.

Inside the forest, there were more mushroom creatures, but they somehow seemed different; such as the fungal growths and the sounds that they made sounded fiercer. As they walked through the forest, the creatures crawled along the vines and roots, following them from a distance, growling and clicking. The creatures seemed to have an aversion to light, so they kept their distance. But it seemed that they kept creeping closer, testing their boundaries.

Sokka eyed them nervously, and said to Aang and Katara, "Let's just hurry up and get the boat and get out of here!" And no one disagreed with him.

They set the gondola on the beach, and eyed the ocean. Katara, Aang, and Sokka all looked expectantly at Zuko, who responded with, "What?!"

"Do you think you can sail us to another island where there are people?" Aang asked, hoping that Zuko could.

"That boat is not meant for seafaring." Zuko said bluntly. "You don't have to be an expert to know that the ocean currents are going to tear that thing apart."

"I thought we could at least use it…" Sokka admitted, downcast. "Let's just take a walk around the island. It's not like we have anything better to do."

* * *

The group walked on, and found a small cove that had some decent –sized fish in it, and they were able to catch those for their breakfast. After eating, they continued walking, slapping at buzzing insects and scratching at insect bites. It was late afternoon when they decided to stop for a rest.

Aang looked out at the ocean solemnly, and sighed, "I think I'm going to contact the Spirit World. That's the only other thing I can think of doing."

Aang went into his meditative state, and the others just sat around waiting for something to happen. They kept a careful eye out for any passing ships that may come by. The humidity combined with the heat resulted in them having to tear and redesign their clothes so that they were more suitable for the environment.

Katara was thankful that she still had her hairpin that Aang had given her. She eyed it carefully, noting that it had not been damaged, and was thankful for that too. She looked at Zuko, who was holding a ball about the size of a small egg.

"What is that?" she asked, breaking Zuko's trance.

"I don't know... or I can't really remember," Zuko said. "I feel like I should know, but it's like trying to remember a dream. Sort of like, the details of the dream are right there, but you just can't recall it."

"What're you guys talking about?" Toph asked, mostly out of boredom.

"Just this glass ball I had in my pocket," Zuko answered. He thought about throwing it into the ocean, but changed his mind. The glass ball was faded and ugly, and its surface was scratched up. _"You will need these… they will guide you."_

Zuko vaguely recalled someone saying something like that.

"I have a glass ball too." Toph said, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the ball and showed it to the others.

When Sokka saw it, he said, "Oh, hey. I had one of those too, but I think I dropped it when we were in the forest last time."

"I think I had one too," Katara said, "But it must've gotten lost, because I haven't seen it since I've been here…"

They weren't sure exactly what this information meant, but as they waited they tried to take guesses as to what the glass balls could have to do with them being on this island.

_***In the Spirit World***_

Aang looked up, and found himself in the surroundings of the Spirit World, and it was a somewhat comforting sight because of how familiar it was. But something felt off, he wasn't sure how to explain it. There was just a sort of heaviness in the air.

"Hello~!" Aang called out, and when he took a step forward, he almost tripped, but he caught his balance. "What was that?" Aang wondered aloud. It had felt like he was walking through thick mud. He moved again, and the same feeling as before came over him. It felt like such hard work simply walking through the place.

Aang went to look for someone or something familiar so that he could discuss the problem at hand, and find a solution on how to resolve it.

He came across a field of flowers that sounded as if they were singing. He saw a pair of small child-like Spirits, a Red one and a Blue one, and he called out to them, "Hello!"

At the sight of him, the Spirits gasped and ran away.

"Wait! Don't leave! Please!" Aang called out desperately, but moving was becoming more and more difficult, and right now it felt as if he was dragging huge boulders with his feet.

A deep chuckle came from behind Aang, and he turned to see a Pig with large, white feathered wings protruding from his back.

"That was Van and Ish, two childish Spirits who are quite shy of strangers," said the Flying Pig Spirit. He sucked a pipe and released a plume of smoke, and continued, "They generally don't mean any harm."

Aang could tell simply by the Spirit's presence that he had much wisdom. Aang bowed, and said, "I'm Avatar Aang,"

"I am the Flying Pig Spirit, Dēji. It is very nice to formally meet the current Avatar. I've met a few of your incarnations before. Right now, it seems you are lost, young Avatar."

"Well that's the thing; I kind of am," Aang said. "Currently four of my friends and I are stuck on an island, and we don't know where we are. We aren't in our world anymore."

"Well, that explains your presence," Dēji said, "You look as if you are fading, and I am unable to fully sense your Spirit."

"What?! Why?" Aang cried, feeling panic take over.

"Are you at least still able to bend the elements?"

"Yes… and so can my friends."

"I see… it seems that while this new world you are in has no effect on your bending capabilities, but it has severely affected your own ability to traverse the Spirit World. As you are not in the World of your origin, wherever you are currently located, the link between you and the Spirit World is very weak and unstable. I should warn you, that if you continue contacting the Spirit World, it will likely result in your death due to exhaustion. I'm not sure if you can contact your past selves without risk, but seeing as how they are a part of you, it should not be a problem if it ever comes down to it. But only do so if the time is desperate."

"I understand, Master Dēji," Aang replied. "And what about us being trapped on an island in an alternate World…?"

"If you are in an alternate World, I imagine the Kelpie Spirit Cyprus, is behind it. He is the Guardian of the Wood between the Worlds. It is a sacred place, and not one you can gain access to easily. You must either happen upon it or have a formal invitation from Cyprus himself."

"I'm sorry," said Aang curiously, "but what does the Kelpie Spirit look like?"

Dēji plucked a feather from one of his wings, and let it float down to Aang, and when the tip touched his forehead, he saw flashes of a giant blue-green sea horse, with a coral and seaweed mane.

"Thank you," Aang said, and Dēji then smiled at the Avatar.

"And concerning your question about what you are to do about being trapped on the island… Wait, and be patient, for I see that a Lion of 1,000 Suns is coming to your rescue."

Before Aang could say anything else, his contact to the Spirit World suddenly broke off, bringing him back to the physical realm.

Aang woke up, and feeling dizzy. His eyelids drooped, and he felt as if he could fall asleep right then and there. A far away voice called, "Aang! Aang?"

He was so tired he felt sure that the voice was just his imagination. Everything was foggy. He just wanted to rest, not think of anything else, or do anything. Aang gratefully welcomed the sleep that overtook him.

It was late evening when Aang woke up, but he didn't feel rested. He stared up at the sky, which was a mix of hues that at any other time he would have found beautiful.

The conversation he had with Dēji was still fresh in his mind.

"Aang, you're awake!" a thankful and relieved Katara said. "How are you feeling?"

"…Like I don't even want to move." Aang sighed. Without even getting up or looking at the others, Aang relayed a condensed version of what he had learned from Dēji concerning the Spirit World, and that he was cut off from it.

"Do you think that this Kelpie Spirit is behind this whole thing?" Katara asked, after a few minutes of silence had passed.

"Possibly, but I'm not sure…" Aang's voice trailed off, because he honestly didn't know what to do. Dēji had said to wait.

"He also said to 'Wait and be patient, for a Lion of 1,000 Suns is coming to your rescue.'"

"Well, I wish that Lion would hurry up." Toph replied bluntly.

They set up another campsite because it was so late, and Aang wasn't in the mood to even move. As the noises of the forest started up again, it was another restless night. In the morning, they continued their way around the island again, and reached their first campsite by late morning.

They simply settled down again, and Momo nibbled on some of the fruit from the surrounding mushroom trees. The group had developed something of a routine; slapping at biting insects, trying to ignore the howls and screeches of the fungus creatures in the forest, and trying not to lose the hope that their rescue was indeed coming.

_***Back in the Fire Nation, after the disappearance of Team Avatar ***_

The storm disappeared as quickly as it had come. Everyone looked at where the Avatar and Fire Lord's boat had been… and it was gone, just gone… The people scrambled and dove into the water to search for any signs of wreckage or life, or anything that gave any indication that everyone was okay.

"Avatar Aang! Fire Lord Zuko! Where are you?!"

"Toph Beifong!"

"Katara, Sokka, where are you?"

People called out, hoping that this was just some elaborate prank or something, and were trying to avoid thinking about the worst.

Uncle Iroh was shaken awake by someone grabbing his shoulder and shouting his name. Iroh stared confused at the young man, who looked just as confused as Iroh felt. "Are you alright?" the young man asked, his confused look turning to that of one being concerned.

"Huh?" Iroh said dumbly, and he looked down, realizing that his robes were dirty from sitting in mud, and that he held a stone a little bigger than his fist in his hand. "What's going on?" he asked, even more confused than before. Hadn't he been sitting here drinking tea? He felt like he had just woken up from a dream, and was now trying to recall it, but to no avail.

"I was just about to ask you…" the young man said awkwardly, "you were sitting here sucking on that rock…"

Iroh quickly stood up, suddenly remembering that he was going to the pier. "I have to get to the pier, so uh, thank you, for your help, young man."

"You don't know?" the man asked, his face suddenly showing that he was even more confused by Iroh's words and actions then before. Once again seeing that Iroh genuinely did not have any idea as to what was going on, the man continued, "Uh… the thing is sir, Fire Lord Zuko, and the others—"

He was cut off by someone shouting, "Fire Lord Zuko? Where are you?"

"They disappeared!" the man told Iroh quickly. "They were on the water, watching the fireworks display, when the water suddenly came alive and swallowed them up. Everyone is searching for them right now."

Upon hearing the news, Iroh ran towards the pier in a panic. "Zuko! Zuko!" Iroh called, a feeling of desperation and emptiness started to overtake him.

"General Iroh!" said an older man, and he ran up to him. Seeing that Iroh's robes were mud-covered, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Iroh said, "What happened? I heard from someone else that the water swallowed up Zuko and the others!"

"Y-yes, Fire Lord Zuko, Avatar Aang, Toph Beifong, and Sokka and Katara of the Southern Watertribe went missing just barely five minutes ago… from what we have heard from witnesses, they started saying something about something hitting their boat, and then the water turned into a whirlpool, calmed down briefly, and then simply swallowed them."

Iroh needed to find a seat, and sat on a crate that had been a few feet away from him. Where was Zuko? Was he okay?

Suki felt someone grab her arm, and when she looked down, a group of young boys were looking at her confused. "Lady, what're you doin'?" the one who had hold of her arm asked.

"Why, I'm…" what was she doing again? She tried hard to remember, but she couldn't even think of what she had been doing. "What was I doing?" she asked, feeling nervous about the answer.

"Talkin' to that statue there," another of the boys motioned to a worn statue that decorated one of the storefronts. Suki blushed, wondering why she would ever do such a thing. Remembering that she had to get to the pier, she quickly thanked the boys and went on her way. When she noticed that there were no longer fireworks, and that it seemed that nearly all the boats had pulled back into the harbor, she thought that she had missed the show. _Where's Sokka? Why didn't he come get me after the show? _Suki thought, feeling a mix of emotions that ranged from confusion, hurt, and anger. Her hurt and anger dissipated when a woman asked her, "Have you seen the Fire Lord and his other guests anywhere?"

"What?" Suki asked, confusion suddenly taking over. The woman told her what had happened at the pier. Suki felt faint for a moment, and the woman helped steady her, asking "Are you alright?"

Suki only nodded, and quickly mumbled her thanks and ran down to the pier. She saw Uncle Iroh sitting on a crate, and ran up to him. "Mr. Iroh…" she said, tears streaming down her face. Iroh looked up at her, slowly stood and pulled Suki into a hug. "We'll find them." He said, although he was mostly telling himself, he felt Suki needed to hear it just as much as he needed to believe it. "Don't worry, we'll find them, and everything will be alright."

Suki only nodded and sniffled as she buried her face into Iroh's shoulder.

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**Thanks for reading! Please leave a Review 3 **

**Next Chapter, the Straw Hats (and Law) finally show up!**

** I spend a lot of time on the One Piece and Avatar Wikis. But I have a bad habit of going on there to research a term or a character, and getting distracted by all the links to other articles that show up… *cut to two hours later* What was I researching again?**


	4. On a Certain Pirate Ship

**Finally, the Straw Hats are here! Please enjoy your read and leave a review. Oh, yeah… I don't own One Piece or AtLA.**

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_Chapter Four: On a Certain Pirate Ship_

On a certain pirate ship, a woman with long copper hair stared at the Log Pose on her wrist. Nami sighed deeply in her concentration. Something was off.

"Is everything alright, Navigator-_ya_?" Trafalgar Law asked her. She didn't answer right away, but sighed again before replying. "I think so, but something's been bothering me for the past day or two." She turned to face Law, and continued. "I feel like we're going off course from Zo. I thought at first it was because of the tides and the winds going in different directions or something. Rules of the New World, and the like… We keep correcting the course, and for a few hours everything's fine. Then practically out of nowhere we're heading east. I feel like whenever we change course, we're going faster than normal… Almost like something is pulling us."

Nami said that last comment mostly to herself, but the thought that something could be influencing their intended course didn't sit well with either the navigator or the Heart Pirate captain.

Luffy was sitting on his "special seat" of the Thousand Sunny's lion head, with a grin on his face. His classic straw hat waved freely behind him, secured by a cord around his neck. Luffy let the wind whip through his hair as the ship sailed along.

Chopper was busy reading at least three different medical books and taking notes, Robin was sitting beside Chopper at the table reading a book of her own, Zoro was sleeping, Sanji was busy cooking and preparing something special for the ladies (and those other bastards too if they wanted some) Brook was playing a tune on his guitar, Franky and Usopp were working on some sort of machine in the workshop, and the Straw hat pirate's guests Momonosuke and his father Kin'emon were fishing. They both cheered as Momonosuke hooked a large fish, and with his father's help, secured it onto the deck of the Sunny. "Chef-dono!" Kin'emon shouted to Sanji, "We have caught today's lunch!"

Luffy turned around, and eyed the fish. "Oohhh!" he proclaimed, "That looks delicious! Sanji, hurry up and cook it!"

The atmosphere was lively as ever, and Law had gotten somewhat used to the crew's antics.

While Law was still recovering from his confrontation with Dofflamingo, and the crew had just barely escaped from Dressrosa, that didn't stop them from having excess amounts of energy that the Straw Hats (especially Luffy) wanted to drag Law into. He just wanted to get to Zo, meet up with his (normal people) crew, take down Kaido and climb his way to the top as Pirate King.

"Hey, Tra-guy!" Luffy called out to Law, interrupting his thoughts, and Luffy ran over to him grinning. "We're going to have a contest while we're waiting for the fish, you wanna join?"

Law made a face, and sternly replied, "If it involves bodily functions, jumping, rolling, or any other activity in which I have to exert myself, then no."

"Oh, okay." Luffy replied, and walked away saying, "Your loss."

A few minutes later, boisterous shouts could be heard from a few of the others, followed by a pained yell (most likely Zoro's) and colorful language filled the air as whatever the Straw Hats were doing seemed to drag in unwitting participants. Law closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose and thought, _"What have I gotten myself into?"_

Law had lost count at how many times he had that particular thought since he had first asked Luffy into a pirate alliance. It wasn't that he regretted the decision, but more so didn't anticipate the headache that came along with such an alliance.

Nami was pretty much used to any and all antics her fellow crew members and especially her captain, could dish out. She made sure that they were on course, and when that was done, she made a few notes about something or other. A few minutes later, Sanji lovingly presented her with a drink and he handed Law a drink with a blunt, "Here,"

"Robin-Chwan~!" Sanji could be heard saying, "I made you something special~."

The Straw Hats quieted down somewhat now that food was present (and they anticipated the fish dinner that was coming) when the ship suddenly jerked, and obviously reverted course. Along with reverting course, the Sunny also increased in speed, causing large waves as they sailed.

"W-what was that?" Usopp asked shakily.

"Maybe there's a dark Spirit that is trying to abduct us, and we're all about to be dragged into hell," Robin suggested with the hint of a smile.

"Don't say things like that so casually!" Usopp shouted at her.

Luffy made a face, and said, "Something's down there… right beneath us. I'm not sure what it is."

Using his observational Haki as well, Sanji sighed. "I can see it too," glaring over at Zoro, "Hey, Marimo, let's go down there."

"Don't tell me what to do, shitty cook."

Due to the speed of the Sunny, the pair tied ropes around their waists so that they could climb out of the water easily once their inspection was over. They both dove into the water, and looked for anything or anyone that could be dragging their ship. There was nothing unusual that they could see. But their Haki was telling them otherwise. _Something_ was there.

Zoro took a chance and drew his swords. Sanji's eyes widened as he quickly had to dodge Zoro's attack. They would have gotten into another argument, but they saw blood… blood slowly flowed out from some invisible entity, and slowly mixed with the water.

Both of them shared a "What the hell?" expression, and looked up at the Sunny, seeing that it had come to a complete stop now that whatever the invisible thing was had swam away.

They both climbed on board and Sanji glared at Zoro "Shitty Marimo! You almost cut _me!"_

"Well, you moved." Zoro replied casually.

"Don't act like you're disappointed!" Sanji shouted, and kicked at Zoro, who in turn blocked the attack, and went after the chef.

"Dart-board brow!"

"Shitty swordsman!"

The arguing would have continued if Nami hadn't whacked them both on the head, "Cut it out! Now what happened down there?"

"There's something down there, or was, Nami-san," Sanji stated to the others as he lit a cigarette. Zoro looked quite serious, and kept staring into the water, as if expecting something to appear.

"Well, what is it?" Nami asked impatiently. She was feeling on edge, and the guys dragging out the report wasn't helping.

"That's the thing," Sanji continued. "We didn't see anything, but there was definitely something underneath the ship. Marimo here cut it. We saw blood, but whatever was down there left. At least for the time being, anyway…"

"Maybe we can keep it as a pet?" Luffy spoke up, grinning hopefully.

"Let's not, we don't need strange things as pets," Nami said, and she turned to Franky. "Can you do a Coup-de-burst? Maybe we can get away from whatever it is by doing that. Let me just correct the course first."

After a few quick adjustments, and furling the sails, everyone found something to hold onto while Franky prepared the Sunny. Within a few minutes, he shouted, "COUP-DE-BURST!" and the Sunny went flying through the air. After they landed, everyone felt sure that the ordeal was over.

"Aw, I wanted to get a new pet." Luffy said with a disappointed sigh.

But just a few minutes later, the Sunny jerked and swiveled, and once again they were heading towards whatever destination the invisible entity wanted them to go, this time with greater speed and much more force. In fact, Sunny was riding a wave, making correcting their course again virtually impossible.

"We're hostages!" Usopp wailed. "What if Robin is actually right this time and we _are_ being dragged into hell?! We'll be taken and dissected! Eaten alive!"

"Eh?! Really?" Chopper wailed as well. "I don't want to be dissected or eaten alive!"

"Well don't you worry, Chopper!" Usopp started with obviously fake bravado. "Did you ever hear about the time that I fought off hundreds of frightful demons who wanted to eat me for the insurmountable knowledge that I have in my brain _and_ for the power of my soul? It was one of the most powerful tests of strength and endurance I ever had in my life."

_"Really?"_ Chopper asked, with wide-eyed admiration.

Usopp continued like this for a while, with his story getting more ridiculous and grander, and Chopper getting more and more impressed. Robin approached Law and asked, "Do you think this has something to do with Dofflamingo, or Kaido?"

"No," Law shook his head. "I don't think so, I've never heard of either having this kind of power. Plus there's the fact that Three Swords-_ya_ cut something that was in the ocean."

"I will fight whatever foe we face!" Kin'emon shouted. "It must be a coward who is doing this. At least whoever it is could at least have the decency to face us head on!"

Momonosuke approached Robin and said feebly, "I'm scared…" to which her response was to hold him close and try to comfort him. By the looks on Sanji's, Kin'emon's, and Brook's faces (wait, Brook doesn't have a face… skull joke!) they were peeved by the little boy's antics. Law took note of it and rolled his eyes.

"Ah, maybe Zoro-san and Sanji-san can swim down there and fight whatever it is again?" Brook suggested.

Zoro only shrugged and replied, "Whatever it is, we'll find out when we get there. There're eleven of us here who are more than capable of fighting if it comes down to it. Besides, it'll be interesting to see what kind of opponents come from this."

Zoro seemed to act casually about the whole thing and settled down for a nap. He kept his eyes closed even as Nami shouted at him that this wasn't the time for him to be sleeping. Zoro started snoring as soon as he finished speaking, indicating to the others that Zoro couldn't care less about whatever or whoever was pulling their ship.

"I agree with Three Swords-_ya_," Law stated, "It seems we can't do anything against this unseen force just yet."

Sanji also nodded, "I agree with Law, I say wait until we actually have a chance to fight back."

"Yosh~!" Luffy said with a nod, and he straightened his hat on his head. "I sense an adventure! Sanji, prepare an adventure bento!"

(Of _course_ Luffy would find something exiting about being abducted… and think about food...)

All they could do was wait- and the wait made the sensible few aboard the Sunny quite unnerved.

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*****Next Chapter*** The Crew meets Team Avatar, and find out why they've been 'selected' to participate in a game of the Spirits. Please look forward to it!**

*****A/N*****

**So I've been watching play throughs of the new game "**_**The Last of Us**_**" and is that game awesome or what? I wanna play it! The zombie designs sort of inspired the design of the creatures in the mushroom forest where the Gaang is currently stranded.**


	5. Pirates!

**A/N: Finally, another chapter is up! And the reviews and follows don't flatter me at all! *does happy dance while saying so***

******But seriously, thanks everyone. It motivates me to keep writing and improving. Thank you for the faves, follows, and reviews.**

****** Much love, ~X**

**Hopefully to help keep a few things clear- things are told from both the pirates' and Team Avatar's POV. So when Team Avatar sees creatures from the One Piece world, they would likely call them what they probably would be in their world, and vise-versa. I've tried to make sure that the perspectives between the two groups are clear.**

**This chapter ended up being cut in half because it was so long... so, kinda happy I managed to get two chapters out of one.**

**Thank you, and please enjoy the story!**

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_Chapter Five: Pirates! _

It had been a week and a half (ten days to be precise) since Aang and the others had been trapped on the island. All of them began to doubt that anyone was coming. They at first tried to repair the boat with makeshift tools, and reinforce it for stronger waters, but when they saw a huge sea monster bigger than anything else they had ever seen (they thought that another island had appeared at first), the plans to even attempt to sail the boat went out the window.

"Eh, let's just wait until help arrives," Sokka said, and the others couldn't agree with him more.

Aang was very concerned for Momo, who had started to grow fungus on his body, just like the plant creatures on the island. Aang couldn't tell Momo not to eat, and he didn't want to deprive him when Momo couldn't eat fish. Plus, he wasn't sure if he would hurt Momo by trying to remove the growing funguses himself.

Sokka looked miserable, because he was getting tired of fish. He was even tempted to try some of the fruit and nuts, regardless of what those foods were doing to Momo. Aang was discouraged because of all the events involving Spirits and the Spiritual World, Zuko was irritated because of numerous insect bites, and a lack of sleep, resulting in him constantly being on edge. Toph was irritated because she was getting tired of the sand and the salty air made her feel sick. Katara was tired because she was trying to keep everybody's spirits up, but all of them grumbled at her and said things under their breath about her being so optimistic.

Their daily routine consisted of trying to get rid of the annoying insects that buzzed around them and bit them, scratching at insect bites, have little squabbles with each other for the smallest of things, apologize, lose sleep to the growling and clicking creatures of the night, and repeat. In short, all of them were irritated at one another, and were hardly on speaking terms. On the evening of the tenth day, they had an argument that escalated into a fight.

"Well _excuse_ me for trying to encouraging everyone to keep their spirits up and wait for help to come!" Katara shouted at the people in front of her after she had tried to encourage them, only to be answered with a 'whatever, be quiet' type of response. "That Flying Pig Spirit said help would come, and we've never had reason to doubt any of the words from the Spirits, so at least someone here has a little faith!"

"Would you just shut up already?!" Toph demanded, "You're _always_ going on about faith and hope!" Toph who mockingly said the words 'faith' and 'hope', continued, "While there's a time and a place, _now_ isn't the time, because no one wants to hear it!"

"Don't talk to her like that!" Aang shouted at Toph. Normally, Aang wouldn't be given in to anger, but lack of sleep, worry, and frustration had been wearing on him, and as a result he ended up taking it out on the others.

"I can talk to her however I want!" Toph said defiantly, taking a stance that seemed to dare anyone to disagree with her.

"No you can't, that's my sister!" Sokka said to Toph, who responded by sandbending at him, and knocking him a few feet away. The two started their own argument while Katara forgot about Toph, and turned her attention to Aang "Stay out of this Aang! Do you really think I need your help? This doesn't concern you, and I didn't ask you, so just stay out of it!" Katara said to Aang. Why did he feel the need to step in when she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself?

"Well I'm sorry for trying to help! Next time, I'll just stay out of it and you can handle everything on your own!" Aang thought that Katara should be grateful; after all, he had been sticking up for her because he cared about her.

"Well, good," Katara waved her hand at Aang, as if she were brushing him off. "'Cuz I don't need it!"

"Humph."

"Humph!"

"_Finally_ you got her to shut up. You should insult her more often," Toph, replied.

"What was that for?!" Sokka demanded, brushing the sand from his clothes. "Besides, you can't earthbend in an argument like this; it's against the rules!"

"Rules-shmules. You're just upset because you can't win."

"Why you…!" Sokka was clenching his fists and trying to think of a comeback.

"Oh yeah? Well the only reason you resort to earthbending is because you can't win in a normal argument!"

Zuko furiously sat up from where he had been laying, and shouted at the four of them, "If you're going to argue, do it somewhere else! There are people here who are trying to sleep!"

"If we're bothering you, then _you_ move." Toph said defiantly.

Zuko glared at the other benders and yelled, "Ahhhhh! I can't believe I am stuck here with you people!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sokka asked angrily.

"You people; as in you people are the most insufferable, irritating people that I have had the greatest misfortune of being stranded with!" Zuko shouted, their campfire swelled, clearly showing the anger that was building inside of Zuko.

"Well, we don't want to be stuck here with you either!" Katara said, and she waterbended a few gallons of sea water at the infuriated Fire Lord and soaked him from head to toe.

Momo watched the whole display go on between the five humans, chirping and cocking his head. The fire died down just then, and went back to normal. As if the water had brought him back to reality, Zuko collapsed to his knees and buried his head in his hands, "I don't know how much more of this I can take… I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it."

He sounded just as tired as the others felt. He then asked in a quiet voice to no one in particular, "When is that Lion supposed to get here…?"

"I'm sorry," Katara said softly, and she and Aang hugged.

"…Sorry…" Toph mumbled.

"Yeah…" Sokka just sat down and stared intently at the ground. "Sorry," he said quickly and quietly.

"I'm sorry too…" Aang said quietly, and he looked at the others, "We can do this, we've lived through worse before, and we've got to stick together. Especially now, and at least here, we have shelter, food, and water."

Everyone else just mumbled their agreements, and afterwards they all sat in relative silence as the night wore on.

_***In the afternoon of the Eleventh Day***_

Momo had wandered off into the forest chasing after a beetle, when he saw a large ship heading towards the island. He chirped out of curiosity, and crept closer to get a better look. The ship landed roughly onto the bay with a loud crash. The ship was unceremoniously thrown onto the beach by a giant wave, and was pushed up on the beach far enough that it actually crashed into a few mushroom trees. Creatures of the forest cried out in protest, while everyone on the ship was too busy to notice.

"Hey!" Franky shouted at the wave, "Watch the workmanship!"

"My special seat!" Luffy cried, and ran to go check on the lion head.

"Is everyone okay?" Nami questioned, as she brushed herself off.

Everyone answered with pained groans.

"Where are we?" Usopp asked, looking at the strange forest.

"Who cares? It's an adventure!" Luffy said, his body tingling with excitement.

Momo flew down to a perch closer to the ship, but was cautious. He was curious about these new people, and so he flew just a bit closer. It was then Momo regretted that decision as he locked eyes with one particular human wearing a straw hat. Momo had run from enough predators to know what the look in this man's eyes meant.

"FOOD!" Luffy shouted and took off after the strange creature with big ears and funny growths on his body.

"Luffy, wait!" Nami started, but of course the Straw Hat captain wasn't listening.

"I'll go after him," Zoro stated casually, and jumped down from the ship and went on his way to retrieve Luffy. "He went the _other_ way, stupid Marimo! How can you get lost when you saw which way he went?!" Sanji shouted at the swordsman. Nami took over quickly, and said with the likened authority of a parent, "Usopp, go with Zoro; make sure he doesn't get lost. Bring back that idiot, and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Usopp and Zoro thankfully didn't necessarily have to actually search for Luffy; they simply followed the general direction of the crashing coming from the forest.

The rest of the crew then started working to try and get Sunny back into the water. Chopper beamed. "Look at this place!" he squeaked, "I bet there are all kinds of medicines in there!"

"And possibly top quality ingredients," Sanji agreed. "Once we fix Sunny, we should check it out."

* * *

It was just passed noon when the shipwrecked Team Avatar heard a loud crash on the other side of the island, and soon afterwards they could hear voices. A few minutes later, there were loud crashing noises going throughout the forest.

Hope swelled in all of them. There were people here. They were saved! But why was there crashing in the forest? What was going on? They could hear the angry protests of creatures that were unfortunate enough to fall victim to whatever the crashing was.

"Should we go and look for them?" Katara asked, wondering if it would be a good idea to even contact these people. She was hesitant to try because they were unsure of whom or what these people could be, and the others felt the same hesitation. They were unsure about the entire ruckus coming from the forest, and if it would even be a good idea to approach the people that were now on the island. It could mean either mean rescue, or a fate worse than death.

Toph tilted her head in confusion. "There's something strange about the person in the forest… Well, I think it's a person. Their movement isn't anything like I've felt before. I have no idea how to explain it."

As soon as she finished her sentence, Momo shot out of the forest with a panicked look in his eyes, followed closely by a young man with a straw hat. Luffy stopped in his tracks when he saw the five disheveled people before him. Momo quickly landed on Aang and clung tightly to his neck, shivering with fright.

"Oh," started the young man looking rather disappointed. "He's your nakama… I wanted to eat him."

"You want to eat Momo?!" Aang shouted, but he stopped with confusion when the boy started laughing. "You guys dress funny," was the reason behind his laughter.

"This isn't how we normally dress!" Zuko shouted at the man, but the confused look on Zuko's face showed that he was wondering why he even felt he had the need to defend their appearance.

"Luffy! Where are you?!" someone shouted.

"Luffy, get your ass back here!" an irritated voice called.

Now that things had quieted down, it left Luffy's companions with nothing to follow.

The young man who was apparently Luffy, smiled and shouted, "Over here! I found forest people!"

_"Oh, no, not another one of these guys…" _Sokka thought to himself.

"We aren't forest people…" Katara said, confused by Luffy's words and actions.

"You aren't?" Luffy asked, looking confused. He stuck a pinky up his nose as his expression slowly seemed to get more confused as if he were trying to figure out what kind of people they were. "Then what kind of people are you?"

"Just… people…" Katara said, making a face at Luffy for so openly picking his nose.

"But that's boring…" Luffy said in an almost whining tone.

All of them stared at Luffy in wonderment and confusion, because it was like talking to a child; one whose attention span couldn't focus on anything for more than a few seconds.

Sokka quickly took over, and said, "We were shipwrecked… wait, is that the right way to explain it?"

"Shipwrecked?" Luffy asked. "Where's your boat?"

They motioned to the gondola, and Luffy took one look at it, and asked, "You came here in that?"

"In a sense, yes," Aang replied. All of them made a face at Luffy's uproarious laughter, and as if it were the most obvious thing, he said, "You can't sail in the New World with a boat like that. You guys must be idiots."

"We aren't idiots!" Toph shouted, tempted to earthbend this guy into next week, but stopped when he asked, "So, you wanna come with me on my ship? Sanji can make us food."

At the mention of "ship" and "food" they all would have said a unanimous "YES!" but were interrupted by an irritated voice saying, "Oi, Luffy, get your ass back to the ship. And what do you mean forest people?"

Everyone besides Toph turned towards the new voice, and a sense of uneasiness came over them. Two people walked out of the forest, and one of the men was tall, had _green_ hair, a prominent scar on his chest, and was apparently blind in his left eye due to another scar and three swords were at his hip. The other young man had a strangely long nose, and he followed the first one closely looking terrified of the mushroom forest. He looked even more so at the strangers before him.

"Who are you people?" the green haired man asked, nonchalantly.

They introduced themselves, and left out their official titles for the time being, because they felt that it would be too complicated a thing to explain to the strangers.

"The name's Zoro,"

"I'm Captain Usopp and I have 300,000 followers! So don't try anything!"

_He's lying…_ Toph thought, wondering why he felt the need to do so. The other members of Toph's group had the same thoughts as well.

Sokka was the only one to call Usopp out on his obvious lie. "If you have 300,000 followers, then we have a herd of dancing bull-monkeys."

The three men gave each other confused looks, and Luffy gave them a wide grin,

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Nice to meet you…you guys are weird!"

He then turned to Zoro, and stated, "Hey, Zoro, Usopp. They've been shipwrecked so they're coming with us!"

The looks on both Zoro's and Usopp's faces changed to ones of anger and frustration.

"You idiot! Inviting people you don't even know onto the ship!" ***thwok!*** Zoro hit Luffy over the head with his fist. "How many times have we told you not to do that?!"

"He's right, Luffy! For all we know they could be really dangerous pirates! Or worse, marine spies!" Usopp said, looking extremely worried. He kept glancing back at the group as if expecting them to do something that justified his claims.

"We aren't spies, or pirates," Aang offered, since he thought that the swordsman was picking on the kind cabin boy who was offering them assistance.

Luffy pouted and whined, "But Zoro~ I already told them that we were going to help,"

Zoro sighed deeply, and shook his head. "Alright _fine_, but _you_ have to tell the navigator about them. Let's just get back to the ship."

The swordsman started walking to lead them back to the ship, when Usopp yelled, "Ahh! Zoro! We came from that way!"

Zoro got a strange look on his face and defended, "We would've reached the ship just fine, I _do_ know where I'm going, dammit. It's you people who get lost."

Luffy only laughed at his companion's antics, entirely enjoying himself too much.

"Let's _not_ go through the forest," Zuko suggested, "We've had enough of the place already, to be honest."

"Fine, whatever," Zoro responded with a yawn.

"At least I'm not the only one here with some sense," Usopp said, eyeing Zuko thankfully. Usopp led the way, but he kept glancing suspiciously at the people behind him. Zoro just trudged along without a word, and Luffy talked to the strange people that they had just met.

"So you're blind?" he asked Toph, looking extremely fascinated.

"Yes—stop doing that!" Toph shouted when Luffy waved his hand in front of her face, as if checking for himself, and he nodded to himself, "You really _are_ blind."

Sokka slapped his forehead, and the others gave tired sighs.

Within a few minutes, the ship came into view, and Aang and the others looked on hesitantly, due to the fact that the ship was practically inland. They were wondering how the ship made its way so far inland and how proficient at steering a boat their rescuers actually were. A very large man with blue hair and strange arms was shouting something.

"Oh, Sunny!" he wailed, "This is not super at all!"

Why was he so openly wearing something that could constitute as underwear?

The wind shifted, and Aang and the others saw the flag unfurl with the wind… a skull with a straw hat and crossbones came into view. Aang stopped short, remembering that their last encounter with pirates wasn't very pleasant. "You guys are pirates?" he asked, trying to think of a strategy just in case they had to fight. He could see out of the corner of his eye that the others had stiffened, and were preparing for the possibility of a fight as well.

"Yep!" Luffy declared with a nod, "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates! Shi, shi, shi!"

Not fully understanding what that meant, Aang then noticed the figure head and stopped. _A lion's head…_

"What's the name of your ship?" Aang asked slowly, lowering his guard.

"Thousand Sunny!" Luffy said proudly, "Oh! There's Sanji! Sanji~! Food!" and Luffy ran to the ship.

"A Lion of 1,000 Suns…" Aang said aloud.

* * *

**And there you have it! Next chapter: Team Avatar meet the rest of the Pirates and learn about what kind of game the Spirits want them to play.**

**Please leave a review!**


	6. Rules of the Game

**A/N: Hooray for posting another chapter! Things are finally getting started, and soon the pirates and Team Avatar will set sail!**

**Please enjoy the story and leave a review. ~X**

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_Chapter Six: Rules of the Game_

"A Lion of 1,000 Suns…" Aang said aloud.

"Hmm?" Zoro asked, but Aang just smiled at him.

"I'll explain everything later-" when he was cut off by a woman yelling. "Did that idiot invite_ more_ people to join the crew? Why didn't you stop him?"

"Oi." Zoro shouted at the woman, "Have you had better luck stopping him from doing stupid things?! Besides, it was captain's orders that they come."

"Don't talk to Nami-san that way, shitty Marimo!" a man with yellow-colored hair yelled at Zoro. "I didn't talk to her in any particular way, Ero-cook! I was just telling her what happened!"

The newcomers, who had no idea that this was normal, eyed the cook and the swordsman with uncertainty. Zoro, ignoring Sanji, nodded his head at them, "Let's go,"

"Oi, don't ignore me, Ma—" Sanji stopped at the sight of Katara and Toph, and hearts popped into his eyes. "Ladies~" Sanji started, and at record speed ran from the ship to suddenly appear before Toph and Katara, "allow me to introduce myself, and excuse the rude behavior of this shitty swordsman. I'm Sanji, the chef aboard this fine vessel. I welcome you."

"…Nice to meet you?" Katara said, somewhat confused by Sanji's words and actions.

"Allow me to guide you to the ship, Mademoiselles," he was saying, "you must be famished. It would be my pleasure to prepare whatever you desire."

"Fine, whatever," Toph said. "As long as I get something to eat, I don't care."

Sanji ignored the boys and guided Toph and Katara to the ship, while the boys followed rather awkwardly behind, with Aang giving Sanji's back a glaring pout. Aang mumbled something under his breath that went along the lines of, "She's _my_ girlfriend…"

They followed him on board Sunny where they came upon the last bit of a conversation between Usopp and the copper-haired woman. Since Luffy had been distracted by the thought of food, Usopp had taken it upon himself to explain the situation to Nami.

"So you see, he didn't necessarily ask them," Usopp said, "But Nami-chan, they were shipwrecked, so we should just give them a ride. We can't just leave them here."

"Alright fine, welcome on-board the Sunny, everyone. I'm Nami, the navigator." she said, eyeing the newcomers with some piqued curiosity and wonderment. The five new people were covered with scrapes and dirt, had messy hair, torn up clothes, and dark circles under their eyes. Nami felt some pity for the group, and continued, "And just to let you know, I want compensation for our services. Three times the interest."

"You're charging us?" Zuko asked. Of course, these were pirates, so he shouldn't be surprised.

Turning to Luffy (who was stuffing his face with an adventure bento) Nami said, "I can't believe some of the things we let our captain get away with…"

"Hmm? Whm, mm?" (What? Who, me?) Luffy said through a face full of food.

Aang and the others stood shocked, finally registering who Luffy was. "_He's_ the captain?!"

They stared in amazement at Luffy, and recalled Zoro hitting him… Why wasn't someone like Zoro the captain if he could get away with such things? Why was someone like Luffy in charge in the first place?

"That's right," Zoro said with a knowing smirk, "Sometimes we wonder why we decided to follow that idiot in the first place,"

"Excuse me Miss," a voice said behind them, "But would you mind—Ahhhhh!" Brook screamed when Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Zuko did, all of them jumping away from the living skeleton. Well, except Toph, who stood asking, "What's going on? Why is everyone screaming?"

The skeleton jumped back, and yelled "Why are you screaming like that? It nearly made me jump out of my skin… even though I don't have any skin. Yo, ho, ho, ho! Skull joke!"

"It's a skeleton… a walking, talking skeleton… with an afro…" Sokka stared in amazement.

Aang thought at first that he had to be a Spirit of some sort. He didn't think that was likely, but decided to ask about it later.

"There's a talking skeleton?" Toph questioned. She had laughed at Brook's "Skull Joke", and after recovering, she held out her hand, saying, "I'm blind; would you mind letting me feel your hand? I want to see for myself."

Brook complied with the request, and sure enough, the hand of a skeleton appeared in hers. At any other time, she would have thought that her friends were playing a joke of some sort (a talking skeleton, indeed) but judging by their genuine reactions, the skeleton was quite real.

"Cool," said Toph, after letting go of Brook's hand. "So, how'd that happen?"

"It's a long story, Yo, ho, ho, ho!" Brook responded.

Within the course of a few minutes, they were introduced to Franky the shipwright, Chopper the reindeer doctor, Brook the skeleton musician, Robin the archeologist, and their guests, Kin'emon and his son, Momonosuke, and another pirate captain who was in an alliance with them named Trafalgar Law.

"We have to get the Sunny in the water," Franky was saying. "Thankfully, she isn't damaged."

"We can help with that," Katara said, and she took Aang's hand and led him behind her.

Katara and Aang took their stances at either side of the stern, and began to waterbend the ocean so that there was enough water to safely and easily sail away from the island. The pirates all watched in fascination (with Luffy and Chopper watching with stars in their eyes) as Aang and Katara worked together pulling and pushing the water to guide Sunny and drift out to sea. Once the ship was a safe distance away, Aang and Katara both breathed a sigh of relief and satisfaction.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!" Luffy declared, his eyes beaming.

"So _cool~!"_ Chopper squealed.

"That was SUPER~!" Franky said, striking a strange pose.

"How can you do that?" Nami asked, wondering just who exactly Luffy had invited onto their ship. She would have assumed Devil Fruit users at first, but seeing as how _both_ Katara and Aang used the strange power, being the power of a Devil Fruit wasn't likely.

The sea monster that Aang and the others had seen a few days earlier rose up out of the water, its eyes clearly showed its intent of eating them. The creature swam towards them, with incredible speed.

"Oh, look. A sea king," Zoro observed casually.

"Maybe we can cook it?" Sanji said, lighting a cigarette. "But it'd be a waste because we couldn't possibly keep everything…"

"Hey! Aren't you guys like, going to like, sail away really, really fast or something?" Sokka asked nervously. The sea king was picking up speed as it swam towards them, and it opened its mouth wide, showing rows of sharp teeth.

"Let me handle it," Luffy said. He simply walked over to the railing, and said in a quiet and firm voice, "Leave."

Aang, Katara, Zuko, and Sokka all stared in shock as a look of sudden fear appeared in the sea king's eyes, and it whimpered as it looked at Luffy. It then turned around faster than it had come, diving into the water and swimming away. Luffy turned back to everyone with a big grin on his face. "There, that's done."

"What…was… that?" Zuko said, once he finally managed to speak up. "He just scared the sea monster away just by looking at it."

"Really" asked Toph. "How did he do that?"

Instead of answering any of their questions, Luffy called out, "Sanji! Food!"

"You just ate…" Sanji said with a quiet sigh, but he complied and brought everyone food. Everyone in Team Avatar was greatly relieved to finally have some real food, and it was among some of the most delicious food they had ever tasted. Sanji had made more than just fish, and Sokka actually had tears in his eyes as he ate, saying, "Meat! How I missed you!"

"Uh oh, Luffy," Usopp said with a grin, "It looks like you have a rival."

While they ate, Aang told their rescuers about their situation.

"I feel that I need to be honest with you;" he began, "we aren't from here. We're actually from another world. There are people like us in that world who can bend the four Elements, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. And me, I'm what's known as the Avatar, and only the Avatar can bend all four Elements." They had a brief intermission in the story for Aang, Zuko, and Toph to give examples of what being a bender and the Avatar meant ( and Katara saw no need for her to demonstrate her being a waterbender any further). "And Zuko is the Fire Lord (basically he's the ruler of the Fire Nation) before we came _here_, we were at a festival in the Fire Nation celebrating the first anniversary of the end of the 100-year-war. We were on a boat out in the water watching fireworks when something in the water swallowed us, and our boat came out in a pond on the island there. We didn't know where to go or what to do when we got here, so I decided to contact the Spirit World (as the Avatar, usually I can come and go between the real World and the Spirit World when I want) but I met a Flying Pig Spirit who told me that I was putting my life in danger by doing so."

The pirates and the samurai and his son listened in fascination.

"Oh, a flying pig?" Chopper asked, "I wish I could see it!"

"Shush, Chopper," Usopp whispered, "I want to find out what happens next."

Aang gave a small smile and continued saying, "Anyway, the Flying Pig Spirit told me about a Kelpie Spirit named Cyprus that is the Guardian of the Wood between the Worlds, and is most likely behind our ending up here. From what the Flying Pig Spirit told me, the only way to get to the Wood between the Worlds is to find it by accident, or be invited by Cyprus himself. He also said that a Lion of 1,000 Suns would be coming to our rescue, and would help us get home. And well, now that we're here… I'm afraid I don't know what to do or where to go, for that matter."

"That is a problem…" Robin said, putting a finger to her chin, as if she were trying to think of some sort of solution.

"I wonder if that Pig Spirit was behind Sunny getting dragged here." Sanji said, taking in a puff of his cigarette. "I mean, how would he know that we would be coming?"

Aang quickly came to Dēji's defense, saying, "He didn't have anything to do with it. Many of the Spirits have great wisdom, and I got the impression from him that he can make future predictions."

"If you say so," Sanji replied skeptically.

"Your ship was dragged here?" Sokka asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah," Nami said with a nod. "For the past two days, the Sunny was dragged here by a giant wave. Although a few days earlier, something kept pulling us off course until it just grabbed our ship and took us here."

Luffy suddenly fell over and was snoring, and his crew members sighed because of it.

"Oh well, we'll explain things to him later," Nami said shaking her head. She began to get to work to set their course back on to Zo.

"You said you were a doctor, right?" Aang asked Chopper, "Would you mind looking at Momo? You see, the animals on that island all look like mushrooms of some kind, and when Momo ate the fruit from there, he started growing all of this." Aang motioned at all over Momo's body.

Chopper took a look at Momo for a few minutes, and then said, "I believe he should be fine, as long as he doesn't eat anymore of the food from the mushroom island. The mushrooms Momo has growing on him now should fall off."

"Oh, thank you!" Aang said gratefully, "I'm so happy! You're the best, Chopper!"

"Asshole," Chopper said, doing a little dance, "I'm not happy at all that you complimented me. Idiot!"

Aang smiled, but he had somewhat of a confused look. _But you seem really happy about it…_

Robin had looked extremely fascinated by their story, "Excuse me, Avatar-kun, but what—"

A new and very strange voice interrupted her. "Oh, I am so glad you found each other, that _is_ a relief, yes, quite a relief indeed."

They turned and saw a man who was just over a foot tall with a pointy red hat and white beard. His eyes glistened dangerously, and he seemed very confident in himself despite obviously being outnumbered.

"You!" Zuko was the first to recover from the surprise and speak up. "You're the man who was… you're the man…"

Zuko couldn't recall why he was so mad at this little man, but every fiber of his being was telling him that he should be.

"Impressive memory," the short little man said flatly, making it sound more like mockery than a compliment if anything.

"Juk Poo?" Toph asked, then stood and pointed an accusing finger, demanding angrily, "That was his name, right? What's going on here?!"

"Toph, he's to the right." Zuko whispered. Toph immediately turned to her right, and demanded, "Well?"

"My name's not _Juk Poo_ or Puk Joo; but rather Pukje," the little man said (he made a face as he put emphasis on the incorrect saying of his alias) "I am the Spirit of malevolency and chaos. Well, not chaos, but I deserve that title anyway. Troublemaking is my specialty."

"Is that some kind of garden gnome?" Luffy asked (no one was sure when he had woken up), and Pukje made a face at the comment, "I'm a _Spirit_, boy. I'm _more_ than just some silly gnome."

"Oh, so you're a mystery gnome."

Pukje looked irritated for a moment and he was about to reply, when Aang interrupted him.

"I am the Avatar!" Aang spoke up, feeling confused and angry at Pukje, but he wasn't sure why he should be. Something in the back of his mind was screaming at him that he should be careful of this particular Spirit. He was about to order Pukje to answer some questions, when Pukje said something that stopped Aang in his tracks.

"So… what of it?" Pukje replied casually, the look on his face clearly showing he did not care who or what Aang was. He simply waved his hand as if he were flicking something away. "It's all in good fun. The Spirits were bored, so I thought up a little game for you to play for their entertainment. Well… mostly mine."

He pulled a sack seemingly from nowhere and tossed it on the deck, and explained, "That is for your navigator," he motioned to the sack, "it contains special Eternal Log Poses that I made just for you. Here are the rules and directions for the game:"

Words then scrolled across the sky at another wave of Pukje's hand.

_The pirates must help the Avatar get home. Your goal is a summer island that is aligned with the summer solstice, Ha Chi Island._

_Only one Eternal Log Pose can be used at a time. _

_Once one is pulled out, it cannot be put back. _

_The needle must be recalibrated to the island it points to. Afterward you will be able to go on to the next island. It will take three days at most for recalibration._

_Your personal Log Pose will be rendered useless until the game is over._

_Ha Chi lies to the south east; therefore the islands on your route are all in this general direction, making your quest easier._

_You have three months from now to reach Ha Chi. It must be sunrise in order to open the gate back to the Avatar's home world._

_If you have not reached your destination by the designated time limit, the Avatar will be unable to return home._

_Ha Chi will have a marker to let you know when you have arrived._

_The pirates are free to go when the game is over._

Robin read the instructions out loud, and when she was finished, the reality dawned on everyone: They were being forced into playing this Spirit guy's game. While the Straw Hats would have been willing to try and help Aang and everyone else even when they didn't necessarily know what to do, they were being forced into helping while under a very restrictive time limit.

"Hey! You can't plan out our course!" Luffy said angrily, but Pukje only laughed at him.

"Of course I can. I can do what I want, when I want, to whomever I want when the very thought of it strikes me." Pukje replied with a casual shrug.

Law was annoyed by this little man, and decided to take action. He would force this creature to tell them where to go. Perhaps he had something to do with the invisible entity. Three Swords-_ya_ had cut the thing that had dragged the ship here. Perhaps this little man could be cut too.

"Room," Law started calmly, and a dome surrounded them. Pukje was obviously taken aback, and when Law sliced him with his nodachi, the look of surprise on his face showed that he hadn't exactly expected that these people would have the nerve to attack him, or resist for that matter. Everyone who wasn't familiar with Law's abilities stared with wide-eyed shock. "What's going on…? What's that noise?" Toph asked, unsure of what she should be doing.

"I'm not sure…" Sokka said slowly. "That Law guy did something. There's like, a huge circle around us. And he just cut up Pukje into pieces without killing him."

Law held Pukje's head in his hand, and said calmly, "Now, how about you tell us where this summer island is, Troublemaker-_ya_? We're on a tight schedule."

After Pukje recovered from the initial shock, he grinned, "How about not?"

His body shot at Law's stomach, slapping some sort of curved paper seal onto Law, and he doubled over in pain. "Nice ability," Pukje said mockingly, as his body walked over and picked up his head. "But I'm able to disassemble and reassemble myself at will."

As if proving his point, he simply placed his head back onto his shoulders and cracked his neck. Law stared wide-eyed at Pukje for a moment, before he started retching.

"Tra-guy!" Luffy called, running over to him.

Katara was the first to reach Law; her concern far outweighed any fear of him she might have had. Sokka joined them and bent down on the other side of Law, and asked, "Hey, are you alright? What did he do to you…?"

Law wasn't able to answer; he gagged and hacked as he continued to vomit.

"Why are there letter "C's"?" Chopper asked tentatively, both confused and worried. Pukje laughed, "Because he's _C_-sick!" Pukje continued to laugh at his own joke, ignoring the ship's passengers.

If looks could kill, the look that Law was giving Pukje in the momentary lapse of his C-sickness would have made the Spirit drop dead where he stood. Law started throwing up again, and Sokka remembered that on Law's shirt was the paper seal that Pukje had placed there.

Moving quickly, Sokka looked for the seal, and tried to grab a corner of it so that he could peel it off. Sokka tried peeling off the seal, but to no avail. Another idea struck him, and he wasn't even sure if it would work, but it was worth a try.

"Take off your shirt!" Sokka said to Law (who was attempting to gasp for air by now) "I can't peel that thing off!"

Law only nodded, and with Katara's help, the siblings pulled off the shirt just as another bout of sickness was starting. As soon as Law was free from his shirt, the sickness stopped. He was left coughing and greedily gasping for air. The C-seal slowly turned to dust, as did the "C's" that Law had thrown up.

Law glared at the Troublemaker, as did the other pirates. Luffy ran at Pukje shouting, "You bastard!"

But Zoro grabbed his shirt, saying "Luffy, wait! Look at what he did to Law! You think you can do any better? There's nothing we can do," He leaned in close to Luffy and whispered, "… for now."

Even though Zoro had stopped Luffy, he had a hand on his sword, ready to draw.

Luffy stopped, taking in the advice of his first mate. Luffy glared at the Spirit, and said in a dangerously low voice, "I'm gonna kick your ass."

Pukje sensed something he had never sensed before; something quite dangerous and genuine about the threat that had been given him, and he hoped that the fear that tingled down his spine at the sight of the Straw Hat captain's glare didn't show on his features. He quickly recovered (at least he hoped so) from the glare.

He pulled out an hour glass that was bigger than he was by about half, and said, "This is your timer," the hour glass was quite odd, as the sand which was in the upper part, and did not flow down to the bottom. "I suggest you leave now, time is short you know."

"Wait one moment!" Nami shouted at the Troublemaker. "You say that we have three days for each island, but what about the time in between? Plus we have to reach this Ha Chi place at sunrise. What if we end up having to go back the way we came because the Log Pose is pointing to an island that we already passed? There's no guarantee that we'll reach the island in that amount of time. A three month limit isn't enough!"

"Then I suggest you start your voyage, and hope for the best of luck when drawing Log Poses," Pukje said, his grin wide and cold. "Bon Voyage,"

And with that, he turned the hour glass upside down, so that the sand flowed up from the bottom, into the upper part of the glass. He set it on the table, and gave the group a mock salute. He jumped off of the ship and onto a waiting Kelpie (which in comparing its size to anything would be a King Bull, if not a little smaller), and when Aang realized it, he shouted, "Wait, that's the Kelpie Spirit! Wait! Cyprus!"

Cyprus stopped for a moment and looked back at the people on the ship for a moment, focusing his eyes on Zoro. A look of anger mixed with fear clearly showed on his features. The two Spirits dove into the water and disappeared in a flash, leaving the Straw Hats and Team Avatar with no choice but to play whatever game this was that Pukje had forced them into. Sokka just stood there somewhat still in shock over what had just transpired. Katara couldn't help but notice the thick bandages that were wrapped around Law's shoulders, back, and chest.

"Could I have my shirt back please?" he said in a raspy voice to Sokka after catching his breath. Sokka realizing he was still holding Law's shirt quickly handed it to him, with a "Sorry."

_I can't believe I underestimated him…_ Law thought to himself. _I let my guard down._

"Are you alright?" Katara asked, looking worried. "Do you need help or anything?"

"I'm fine," Law replied with a grunt as he put his shirt on. "I've had worse happen."

The waterbender girl did not look convinced, but she left him alone after he gave a look of confirmation.

The Heart Pirate captain swore that if he ever ran into that Troublemaker again, he was going to make the Spirit regret ever meeting him. Now that he had somewhat of an idea of what the Spirit could do, he could think of a few counter measures that would ensure a victory next time.

To the Straw Hats, Law, and Kin'emon and his son, all of them had at first perceived Pukje to being the equivalent of an annoying little sprite, and not the level of threat that he actually presented. To them, he looked like something that had walked right out of a children's storybook. They now had some understanding about what these "Spirits" were that Aang had spoken of.

Aang stood at the railing of the ship looking numb. He was thinking about the events that had lead up to this. _ So… what of it?_ Pukje's voice rang in his ears.

"…Aang?" Zuko finally spoke up, getting his attention.

Aang turned to the pirates, and gave them a bow. "I'm sorry about this," he started. "But it seems that you were dragged into our problems. If you help us get home, we'll do whatever we can to assist you along the way and pay back everything that you do for us."

Nami looked quite serious and said, "This is taking time from our goal to reach Zo, but we'll help you…" she then smiled like a mischievous child, "And in return, I want gold; lots of it. Remember; five times the interest."

"Wait, you're charging us _more?_" Zuko asked, dumbfounded.

"You're important people, so it shouldn't be that hard to get." Nami replied very matter-of-factly.

Zoro had noticed a fairly recent-looking scar on the Kelpie's left shoulder. "So it was him," Zoro said, the others looked curiously at him. "The Kelpie was the one pulling Sunny. I would know the scars my swords leave behind anywhere."

Obviously, the Spirits could be wounded, or at the very least physically attacked. If they ended up meeting any other Spirits, they could easily defend themselves if need be. And if that was the case, they weren't going to make the mistake of underestimating any of them anymore.

"Yosh~!" Luffy said. "Tra-guy, sorry but we're going to have to wait to reach Zo. We have to take everyone home. You don't mind, right?"

Although he looked somewhat irritated, Law agreed with a slight nod of his head. "Let's just do it."

"Set sail for Ha Chi!" Luffy said with a shout.

* * *

**So, is Pukje dislikable/likable or what? Please let me know! **

**I already have an idea on how this is going to end, and I have a few ideas for what goes in the middle. It's just a matter of filling it all in.**

**A bit of a plot hole here (and it won't be acknowledged ever again after this). I figure that Team Avatar can't read English, although in the One Piece world, English writing is used in abundance. This is why they wouldn't understand letters/words written in the English alphabet. Aang and the others may not even speak the same language as the pirates... so plot convenience is convenient. **


	7. Life aboard the Sunny (Part One)

**A/N: Unintentional gag moment: I've realized throughout these last few chapters that since Toph is more "blind" then she usually is, and I have her constantly asking about what is going on... **

**Here, a series of short stories on the Sunny before they reach the first island.**

**Thanks in advance for all reviews.**

* * *

_Chapter Seven: Life aboard the Sunny- Part 1_

It had only been a few days since Team Avatar had set out with the Straw Hats. Katara was thankful that she was able to have a real bath after so long, and was amazed by the fact that a pirate ship of all things would have orange trees, a lawn, and have such luxurious facilities like the kitchen, bathroom, and the bedrooms. She had been told that Franky built the ship, and she thought that his workmanship was very impressive.

Nami, Robin, and Momonosuke all were taking their baths as well, and Katara wouldn't have minded if Momonosuke wasn't there. She felt sure that the boy was a lecher, (she was sure she saw him smirking at Brook, Sanji, and his father at one point) but both Nami and Robin didn't notice or didn't care. After a long and relaxing bath, Katara put on the clothes that Nami said she could borrow. She had on a shirt that had some kind of odd name (criminal) and shorts.

Katara felt pitifully undersized compared to the other women on the boat, and she had also noticed Zuko, Aang, and Sokka try not to notice. She was thankful that more conservative clothing was available. She wondered why they wore such revealing clothing, and if perhaps it was normal for all women in this world to wear such things.

Everyone here had such strange clothing and names, although Kin'emon and Momonosuke had names and seemed to wear clothing that were both normal to her.

The guys had been given clothing as well that was more practical for everyday life on a ship.

Toph didn't really care about the dirt (a healthy coating of earth, she had called it) she was happy with just a change of clothes and food. Toph of course didn't notice Nami's or Robin's revealing outfits, and if she had, she likely wouldn't have cared. She also probably would have given Katara and the guys a hard time for noticing (or trying not to notice, in the guy's case).

* * *

Luffy stretched out his arms and grabbed the roof of the crow's nest, vaulting himself up to the top. He had managed to twist himself just right at the last minute, so that he went through one of the windows. Judging by the sound of crashing weights and Zoro's surprised yell, Luffy's presence wasn't expected

It was the first time that Aang and the others first saw Luffy truly stretch, and this new event added to the stockpile of surprises that Luffy kept piling on top of. First, this guy is the captain (who gets abused by a select few crew members), then he just looks at sea monsters and makes them run away, and _now_ he stretches! This caused them to wonder what other surprises that there could be, and then to wonder why they should even be surprised in the first place anymore.

Zuko managed to find his tongue first, and pointed almost accusingly at the crow's nest where Luffy was, asking, "What _was_ that?!" he looked to the other pirates as if demanding some sort of explanation.

"That's just Luffy; it's normal." Nami said, shrugging her shoulders.

"How is that normal?" Sokka questioned. Of course, there was Law, who had cut Pukje's head off without killing him, a talking reindeer who was a doctor, a huge guy who had machinery inside of him, a living skeleton with an afro… and here they were questioning the normalcy of Luffy stretching. They recalled when Toph had said that the movements of the person in the jungle weren't normal.

"You're the ones who can bend elements, and have connections with shitty Spirits…" Sanji pointed out, "… if anything, you're the weird ones."

The conversation was cut short by Luffy face-planting on the deck. Those unfamiliar with Luffy's abilities had released a surprised "Ah!" and then stared at Luffy unsure of what they should do. Luffy sat up and laughed, "Oh, hey guys."

"A-are you alright?" Katara asked slowly, after recovering from Luffy's face-plant.

"Yes," Luffy stood and brushed his hat off before placing it back on his head. "Why wouldn't I be?" (He then proceeded to start picking his nose)

"You just fell like thirty feet!" Sokka pointed out. "How could you be alright after something like that?"

"I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, I'm a rubber man," to demonstrate this, Luffy grabbed both sides of his cheeks and pulled, stretching his face way beyond the capacity of what a normal person could do.

"Gum-Gum Fruit?" Aang asked, with a smile. He and Sokka started laughing at the faces Luffy was making, and then Katara couldn't help but join in as well. Zuko made a face as if he wasn't sure if he should be disgusted or impressed.

"We've never explained about Devil Fruits, have we?" Robin said, and she continued. "Basically, a Devil Fruit is a mystical fruit found in the world that can give the eater many different and varying kinds of strange and interesting abilities depending on the type and variation of the fruit itself."

Robin then motioned with her hand, and her limbs multiplied. "Luffy-kun, Law-kun, Brook-kun, Chopper-kun, Momonosuke-kun, Kin'emon-kun, and I are all Devil Fruit users. While we may gain some amazing, and very useful abilities, we are rendered unable to swim."

Katara then questioned, "Well if you live in a place that is surrounded by water like this" she motioned to the sea, "why eat one or set sail in the first place?"

"Because it's fun," Luffy said, as if that explained everything. "Besides, it's not like we have to worry about drowning or anything, Zoro and the others always save us."

"It makes things quite interesting," Robin replied, seemingly amused at Katara's question.

Toph seemed to take things in easier than the others; possibly because she was blind. She easily took others' word for it when they told her what was going on. She had to "see" for herself that Luffy could stretch, so she grabbed his cheek and pulled. Sure enough, it stretched and Toph let go in surprise, causing Luffy's cheek to snap back into place, which was something he found funny.

"Whoa…" she said, but she smiled. "That is cool."

"Devil Fruits are just one of the many mysteries of the sea. I suppose when you eat one, you simply have to hope for the best that you don't get a useless ability that you'll be stuck with for the rest of your life." Robin explained. "A scientist named Vegapunk even discovered a way to make objects "eat" a Devil Fruit. I've seen it two different times, although I honestly have no idea how the process is done."

Robin went on to explain the three different types of Devil Fruit and how they affected a person. The concept of Devil Fruits sounded fascinating. This caused many more questions to arise, but unfortunately Robin could only answer as best she could, as even her knowledge was limited. Aang also had to laugh at himself for thinking that Brook could be a type of Spirit when he first met him.

The powers of these fruits were amazing, and those powers seemed so limitless. Hearing about all of the abilities that the Straw Hats had come across in their adventures honestly made Aang and Sokka look forward to running into a Devil Fruit user (and hopefully whoever it was would be on their side).

* * *

After everyone had rested and recuperated, Usopp had the idea for Aang and Katara to help speed up the Sunny while sailing between islands. They would go back and forth for a while, off and on for a few hours in the day. They used airbending to fill the sails, or used waterbending to speed the boat along the waves, and sometimes both at the same time. The Straw Hats didn't seem to expect the two benders to constantly power their ship, and even encouraged them to rest.

Nami looked pretty satisfied with their work, as she checked the hour glass and her maps. They were making pretty good time.

* * *

Toph quietly sat at the table on deck across from… what was his name again? Tra-guy, was that it? And Brook was sitting at the table as well, drinking tea. How could Brook, a skeleton eat or drink _anything_ for that matter? Her only reason for sitting here was because she had nothing else to do. Toph hated being on the ship, and even though Chopper gave her some medicine that helped settle her stomach, but that didn't get rid of the salty smell and the slow rocking of the ship. Plus, there was the fact that she felt trapped and truly blind without having the earth underneath her feet. She heard Sanji come up from her left, humming some sort of song.

"Here, Toph-chan," he said, and he placed a drink on the table in front of her, "Drink this; it'll help you feel better. I made it just for you~"

"Thanks," Toph said, as she heard him place another drink on the table across from her.

"Here you go, Law." Law… right, that was his name.

"Thank you, Black Leg-_ya_," Law said. He had such a strange way of speaking.

"You want anything Brook?" Sanji asked.

"I'm good with just the tea, thank you, Sanji-san." Brook replied.

Toph could hear everyone else around the ship going about their business. She could hear metal clinking together; that meant Zoro was exercising. Seriously, did that guy do anything _other_ than sleep and work out? Sanji was back in the kitchen, preparing something else. A few minutes later, he briefly spoke to Nami and Katara, and then Robin. Usopp, Franky, and Sokka were talking about something, and the two pirates laughed at something while Sokka protested. Robin was talking to Aang, asking him about the Spirit World and other aspects of their world.

Katara and Nami were talking about something or other, Katara giggled at something Nami had said. "I'm not sure if I could do that!" Katara said. She sounded embarrassed.

Luffy and Chopper were laughing about something with Kin'emon and Momonosuke. She heard Luffy mention that he wanted Momonosuke to transform again (because he had thought of a really good game), whatever that means. Momonosuke protested, saying "I can't just do it whenever I want!"

There was a squabble or something, and suddenly the game had turned into tag, because the four were chasing each other and yelling. Toph took a sip of her drink. It _was_ really good. A sudden feeling of relaxation came over her, and she indeed did feel much better. Something about the drink settled her anxiety.

Zuko was somewhere to the right of her, snoring softly. Of course _he_ would be able to adjust the easiest out of all of them. He had what, spent three years or more of his life living on a boat? She then heard a loud crash, and Zuko was shouting, "What was that for?!"

"You're it!" Chopper said, and ran off. Zuko must have run after him, because Chopper was happily yelling, "He's after me!"

She heard Law sigh deeply, sounding irritated. She could tell by his breathing that he was in some pain. She knew that Pukje had hit him; maybe he was still recovering from that. Toph wasn't sure if Law minded the silence that was between them or if he even cared. He was a hard man to read, and when she heard him speak, he gave nothing away.

"…Are you alright?" Toph asked, unsure of what to say to the man.

"I'm fine," he sounded somewhat annoyed.

"Toph! You wanna play tag with us? Tra-guy is boring and won't do it. How about you, Brook?" Luffy said.

"I'm fine," Brook answered. "I'd rather sit here and enjoy the downtime, yo, ho, ho, ho!"

"You're seriously asking the blind girl to play tag?" Toph asked, somewhat indignantly. But she continued, casually saying, "I want to play, but it doesn't really seem fair. You guys can see, but I can't. If I'm going to play, we'll have to play Blind Tag. It simple; you guys each have to wear blindfolds, and we have to find each other by following each other's voices. You can talk about whatever you want. I'll be It, and look for you guys."

"Okay!"

After the blindfolds were on, Luffy, Chopper, and Momonosuke started wondering around the deck.

"I wonder when we'll reach the next island~" Luffy said in a sing-song voice. "I want to eat meat when I get there~"

"This would probably be good training for a warrior," Momonosuke said.

"I've never done anything like this before," Chopper stated, "Toph, are you looking for us?"

"Yes," Toph took a sip of her drink. "It's a challenge, but I can manage."

She heard Zuko sit down next to her. He must've realized that he'd unwittingly been pulled into their earlier game of tag, and had given up. "What are they doing?"

"Blind Tag," Toph whispered. "They think I'm looking for them."

"Hey, Toph" Chopper said, "Are you getting any closer to catching us?"

"Pretty close," Toph said, finally finishing her drink. She lay back on the seat and relaxed. "You guys are doing great."

Law did a strange-sounding cough.

"Are you alright?" Zuko asked.

"I'm fine," Law said, and his voice sounded just a bit off. He cleared his throat, and said in a serious tone, "It's nothing. I'm fine."

Toph believed that was a laugh. Maybe Law wasn't such a hard guy to get through to after all.

* * *

Sokka had worked for hours on this particular sketch, and when he done, he presented it to Franky and Usopp.

Franky studied the picture, and flipped it around so that he could view it at every angle, and then had to give up and ask, "So, is this a kind of fish?"

"It's an air glider!" Sokka defended, "It's for Aang. His got left back at home. He can use this to fly."

"I thought it was an insect," Usopp added, looking at the drawing again. Sokka made a face at him. "It's an _air glider_."

"I suppose I can make it," Franky said, scratching his head. "And when I'm through, it'll be super!"

With Sokka able to explain the basics of what the glider needed, Franky and Usopp worked together to build a glider any Airbender would be proud of. (Along with a few of Franky's personal modifications, of course). When it was finished, Franky grinned and Usopp wiped his brow.

"This is perfect!" Sokka said. "You guys are the best!"

They presented the glider to Aang, who admired it. The staff had Aang's name carved into it, and the wings were red and had Franky's star logo. Franky pointed to a ball-shape that was near the base of the staff and explained, "There's a wind-dial in there, to activate it you just have to twist the handle here forward with your hand, and you'll go _super_-fast."

"Thanks guys," Aang said, smiling. "This really means a lot."

"It was nothing!" Usopp insisted, scratching his head. "Well, try it out!" He wanted to see Aang fly.  
Aang took his stance, and took off to the sky.

"Whoah!" Franky said as he adjusted his sunglasses so that he could watch Aang.

"I wish I could fly like that!" Luffy shouted with excitement when he saw him.

"So _cool_~!" Chopper said with his eyes wide and sparkling.

Nami watched as the Airbender flew around the sky and smiled. "That most certainly could be useful in the future," she said to herself.

Everyone else watched with mild curiosity, as Aang laughed and flew in circles above the ship.

"Activate the wind-dial!" Franky called.

"Like this?" Aang said to himself, and gave the handle of his glider a twist. The sudden burst of speed was unexpected, and Aang went flying off way ahead of the ship, screaming the entire way.

"_Super_ success!" Franky said proudly, striking his pose.

"Success!" Sokka said, laughing as he did the same pose.

"I hope he doesn't get lost," Usopp remarked, using his goggles to try and see where Aang went.

There wasn't really much need for concern, because Aang was able to loop his way back easily once he got the hang of the power and speed that the glider had. As Aang flew, he looked out at the vastness of the ocean. Strangely, the ocean back home seemed so small compared to this. A few miles away, Aang saw what he believed to be giant dolphins of some kind, and he was fascinated by them. The creatures of this world were so strange.

Aang flew over the ship for a few minutes, seemingly lost in his thoughts but he looped around a few more times before landing on the deck.

"This is amazing," Aang admired the staff before folding the wings in back into place. "Thanks again,"

"Sure thing," Franky said, with a smile that showed he was very satisfied with their work.

"It was something that the great Usopp-_sama_ didn't mind doing," Usopp said proudly.

* * *

**A/N:Part two is coming soon :3**


	8. Life aboard the Sunny (Part Two)

**Part two is here, I actually had a lot of fun writing these two chapters. In the next chapter, I promise that the game will officially begin.**

**Please enjoy and leave a review! Thanks in advance!**

* * *

_Chapter Eight: Life aboard the Sunny (Part Two)_

As everyone sat around the table for dinner, the Straw Hats told Team Avatar about Gol D. Roger, which was something Luffy was very excited about; his eyes lit up as he talked about the infamous pirate. They told them about the influence that he had, about One Piece, and about the goals that they were striving towards.

"Wait," Sokka asked, "If you both are pirate captains, and you both are aiming for this One Piece thing, doesn't that mean your two crews will have to fight over who gets to claim it?"

"Hm…" Luffy said thoughtfully. "Well, me and Tra-guy are friends! But we're rivals too. When we reach One Piece, I want him to fight just as hard as I will! Isn't that right, Tra-guy? Shi, shi, shi!"

"Yes, I suppose." Law replied. "You better not disappoint me, Straw Hat-_ya_."

There was an unspoken respect between the two Pirate Captains that didn't go unnoticed by Aang and the others. Is this what it meant to be a pirate in this world?

* * *

Momo was loved by Nami, Robin, Momonosuke, and Chopper. The humans of the group thought that he was extremely cute, and Chopper had very many interesting conversations with the flying lemur. But there was another particular person who had an unspoken fascination with the lemur, and it wasn't exactly something he wanted to be known. Straw Hat-_ya _and the others would likely never let Law live it down.

Law liked fuzzy and cute things, something he would never openly admit to. Sure, his crew knew that he and Bepo shared a friendship that no one else in the Heart Pirates crew had. But anyone outside of the Heart Pirate crew did not know of this personal fascination he had, nor would they ever find out.

Late one evening, the lemur was curled up asleep on the deck. Zoro was snoozing as well, leaning against the base of the crow's nest. Law carefully and quietly walked, making sure not to disturb the sleeping swordsman as he approached Momo.

When Law approached the lemur, its ear twitched and it woke up and looked at him with its big, round, green eyes. Momo chirped, eyeing him curiously. Pulling a peach that he had swiped from the kitchen out of his pocket, Law offered it to the lemur. Momo hesitantly took the fruit from Law, as if he wasn't sure if the man was going to try and make a grab for him.

Momo swiftly grabbed the fruit, and settled back down in his spot, watching Law carefully. Momo took a few small bites of the fruit before finishing the rest quickly, swallowing the pit as well. Momo eyed the man again, and ever so swiftly and quietly jumped onto the man's shoulder to see if he had anything else to eat.

Law reached up, and scratched the lemur on the cheek, and the creature leaned into his fingers and closed its eyes, enjoying the attention. Law pulled another piece of fruit out of his pocket, this time it being an apple. Momo gratefully took the fruit, and ate that as well.

Momo sat on the man's shoulder for a few minutes longer, chirping quietly. Law began to scratch Momo's cheek again, and this time Momo moved his head around so that Law could do the top of his head. Momo made purring sounds, expressing his enjoyment.

The lemur's ears suddenly twitched, hearing some far away sound. There were voices, and Law quickly stopped petting Momo and secretly hoped that the lemur would hurry and leave his shoulder before those voices reached the deck. Thankfully, the lemur flew away towards the owners of those voices. Law quickly and casually acted as if he had been leaning against the railing all along as Avatar-_ya _and his friends came out on deck.

When they saw him, one of the girls called out to him, "Goodnight, Mr. Law!"

He only looked at the waterbender girl over his shoulder. "Sure, goodnight,"

Seeming to take the fact that he had spoken to the waterbender girl as some sort of permission, the rest of the group bade Law goodnight as well before going their separate ways for bed.

The next morning at breakfast, Momo came in riding on Aang's shoulder. A few minutes after Aang had sat down, the lemur leapt from his shoulder, to Law's, looking at Law expectantly, cocking his head and chirping.

"Oh, hey," Aang said, smiling. "I think he likes you. You know it's strange; he usually doesn't take so well to strangers."

Being unsure of what to do for a moment, Law took a piece of fruit and handed it to Momo, who happily took it and settled on Law's shoulder to eat.

"_Super_ cute!" Franky said, grinning.

"You'd look good with a pet on your shoulder," Robin said with a smile.

Law thought that he could hide it, but judging by the expressions of the people around him, they were chuckling, and he was sure that his expression gave away the fact that he was in a position of discomfort and slight embarrassment. It was like the Chopper-hat all over again. He decided to just go along with it, and replied, "If the lemur wishes to sit on my shoulder and eat, I don't mind either way."

(He really didn't).

* * *

Zuko stared at the drink in front of him, unsure if he should be drinking alcoholic beverages in the first place. The Straw Hats said that they should party in celebration of new nakama, and so Sanji prepared a huge feast for everyone, the sake was pulled out, and currently Luffy and Chopper were dancing with chopsticks shoved up their noses. Brook was playing a song on the piano, singing a song that went,

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Going to deliver Binks' Sake!_

_Following the sea breeze! Riding on the waves!_

_Far across the salty depths! The merry evening sun!_

_The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky!_

The crew sang along and laughed, and Zuko had to admit he enjoyed it. He had to release a bit of a chuckle when Law glared at Luffy, who was trying to encourage the fellow captain to dance with chopsticks in his nose.

"Don't let it go to waste," Zoro said, bringing Zuko's thoughts back to the situation at hand.

"I, um, never had a drink before…" Zuko started, but Zoro interrupted him saying,

"Well, it's never too late to start," he then took a gulp out of his own tankard.

A little bit wouldn't hurt, right? Zuko took a small sip, and it went down bitter at first. It wasn't so bad. He took another sip, this time willing more of the liquid into his mouth. He knew that Zoro would drink this stuff all the time. The guy didn't seem to drink anything else other than alcohol, and _he_ was fine.

_***Barely half a tankard later***_

"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Way to go Zuko!" Luffy said, clapping his hands "See Tra-guy? Flame-guy can have fun, too."

"_Farewell to the harbor, To my old hometown_

_Let's all sing out with a Don! As the ship sets sail_

_Waves of gold and silver dissolve to salty spray_

_As we all set sail to the ends of the sea_

_Going to deliver Binks' Sake!_

_We are pirates sailing through the Sea!_

_The waves are our pillows, The ship our roost_

_Flying the proud skull on our flags and our sails"_

Zuko didn't know any of the words, but he slurred along and made up the words as he danced with Usopp and Chopper, complete with chopsticks up his nose. This party was great.

Zuko woke up in the men's quarters with a pounding headache. Everything was too bright… _What happened last night?_ Zuko tried to recall, but head pangs prevented him from remembering anything. A sense of nausea came over him, and he tried standing up quickly in order to run to the bathroom, but that just made everything worse. The room was spinning, and Zuko became even more worried that he would risk losing whatever he had eaten or drank the night before. Drank… _"Don't let it go to waste," Zoro said._ _"Well, it's never too late to start,"_

Zuko ran for the bathroom, and barely just made it in time. Once he was done, Zuko sort of just sat there on the floor and groaned. He tried to remember what happened again, but more pangs accompanied by flashes of light this time deterred Zuko from trying to recall anything more.

He cleaned up the bit of a mess that he had made when he missed the toilet, got cleaned up himself, and headed out onto the deck, where there were voices. Why was everything so loud? "Hey! Flame-guy!" Luffy waved at him, a big smile on his face. He frowned after a moment, "Hey, uh, are you alright, Flame-Guy?"

"So loud…" Zuko said, another bout of sickness starting.

"Good morning, Zuko." Katara said, her voice sounding as if she was trying to hold back a laugh. "Did you sleep well?"

"That was some party last night," Toph said with a mocking grin very evident on her face.

"What did I do?" Zuko asked, after the sickness had gone away for the moment.

"Oh, you know;" Sokka said, "just party things, like dancing badly, singing badly, drinking, and maybe a little bit of stripping."

"I did _what?!_" Zuko asked, completely horrified.

"I'm just kidding, at least about the stripping part. Somewhat." Sokka said, holding back a laugh.

"Well, you _did_ take off your shirt, and started talking about your scars…" Aang said. "But nobody could understand what you were saying. Although, we could understand one part a little bit when you started bragging or something to Zoro that your scars were better than his."

"Yeah," Toph said, "afterwards, you started giving a speech about being Fire Lord, and then you passed out."

The four of them burst out laughing, and were imitating how Zuko had said some of the things that he had done. Zuko wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. Zuko felt a tug on his pants, and Chopper was holding a cup filled with some kind of gray liquid out to him.

"Drink this, Zuko-kun." Chopper said, "It'll help with the headaches and nausea."

The stuff tasted worse than it smelled, but Zuko complied and drank the whole thing. Robin smiled at him, and asked, "Are you feeling alright, Flame-kun?"

"Pretty good, but I think after last night, I'm going to stick with drinking tea and water."

* * *

**So, what do you think of Law loving a certain winged lemur and Zuko getting drunk?**

**A****/N: One of the rules I was taught as I wrote papers for school was "write as if you'r explaining it to a person who has never heard it before". Well, while that's good advice and all, and it's a great rule to use when you have a paper that needs X-amount of words that number in the thousands. It's not a very good rule when it comes to fanfic writing, because obviously the people reading already know who these people are. It's a habit that I'm trying to break out of, and so a thank you goes out to Painterofemotions for pointing out a habit I didn't even realize I had.**

**Thank you for reading, much love! **


	9. The Tower and the Tavern

**A/N: First off… big, fat thank you(s) with cherries and whipped cream on top for reading, reviewing, and following.**

**Second… It took me longer than I planned to write this chapter, but a few ideas struck me and I just had to add them to this chapter. Plus, I'm in the middle of writing an original graphic novel series and I'm also drawing the characters and everything that is involved with that… links will likely be added to my profile when I officially start the series.**

**Third… I derped and ended up having to edit previous chapters.**

**Fourth… Expect some action in this chapter, but please be forgiving as it's my first time writing fight scenes, and after much writing, rewriting, and editing, I hope it turned out well.**

**Fifth… please enjoy ~X~**

* * *

_Chapter Nine: The Tower and the Tavern_

_**Countdown: Two months, 25 days left**_

Taking his turn as lookout for the upcoming island, Aang sat atop the crow's nest absentmindedly listening to the people far below him. It had been about six days since they had set sail from the mushroom forest, and they'd yet to spot land. Aang had to admit that he felt some concern, because the longer it took for them to reach an island, the longer they would have to stay on that island, the less time they would have to reach Ha Chi.

Katara was by the bow with Nami, using her waterbending to guide the ship along the waves. She had to stop after a while, because Katara had been using her bending for a few hours straight. Nami was annoyed as she looked through a telescope at their surroundings. "That damned little sprite," she complained. "It's been far too long, and no island yet! And here I thought we were at least ahead of schedule."

"Maybe we got lucky and it's Ha Chi that we're sailing towards," Sokka said, but he was inclined to agree with Toph when she stated somewhat flatly, "As if we're ever that lucky."

It was getting later in the evening, with the sky turning a bright red-orange in anticipation for sunset. Aang then saw a strange tower a ways ahead of them. He called out to Nami,

"Hey, I think I see an island!" and he pointed out the tower.

"You see an island?" Toph sounded excited. "Where is it? How far away is it? What does it look like?"

"We'll see when we get there," Nami said with a smile.

"Whoa!" Luffy called out in uncontainable excitement. "It's got a tower! I wonder how high it goes! I wonder what it does! New island! New Island!"

As they neared the island, they saw that it was much bigger than they had originally thought, as mountains and cliffs loomed over the sides. A few more ships came into view at the harbor. People working on the docks eyed them curiously at first, then warily as they noticed the Pirate flag. But the workers continued about their business as if nothing was going on. A few of the Thousand Sunny's crew members returned the wary glances, mostly because they didn't want to run into any trouble.

As soon as they had docked, Toph excitedly exited the ship (with a little help from the others) and she fell down onto the ground as if she were hugging it, making an "earth angel". Since she had only demonstrated earth bending by using her meteorite bracelet, this was something else that held the pirates' curiosity, if only for a moment.

"Oh land! How I've missed you!" Toph declared. "I'm sorry that I was gone for so long!"

Shops were closing for the evening, so they would have to do any preparations and sightseeing in the morning. But that didn't stop the likes of Luffy, Usopp, Zoro, Toph, Zuko, Aang, and Sokka from setting out on their own to explore.

"Don't stay out too long!" Katara called after them.

As they walked, they began to get an idea of how big the island actually was. From what they could tell, the island had likely been just one huge rock at some point in the past. The residents of the island had not built any structures, but rather had carved their homes and stores out of the island itself, making large dome shapes of various sizes that lined the streets. Even a few shops and inns had been carved into the mountainsides. Cobblestone pathways twisted in between the homesteads and stores that had been carved out of the island.

Metal poles with thick wires wrapped around them stuck out of the roofs of shops and homes, as well as other places of residence along the mountainside. These wires were all connected the buildings one way or another, and they led somewhere to the middle of the island towards the tower. Metal and glass lanterns were connected to the wires, and they swayed softly in the breeze. Sokka and Aang stood wide-eyed looking at the lanterns, because of its curious soft yellow glow.

"That isn't candlelight," Sokka observed, truly fascinated by this fact.

"I've never seen anything like it!" Aang said with a grin. "How do these work without some kind of fire?"

"It's electricity," Usopp explained. "It seems that it powers this entire island through that large tower there in the middle. It's probably some sort of generator."

"So it's mystery power," Luffy said with a definite nod.

"No, no." Usopp shook his head and sighed. He then tried explaining to his Captain how electrical energy works, but it was obvious by the look on Luffy's face that he wasn't getting it.

"So, basically it's like a form of sustainable energy?" Sokka asked, thinking he understood somewhat.

"Yeah," Usopp nodded, and now explained how the phenomenon worked to someone who was willing to listen and learn. "Electric power is transformed to other forms of power when electric charges…"

Usopp continued explaining the process to Sokka, who looked genuinely interested with a nod of his head and a hand on his chin, while the others wandered off ahead to explore what they could. Zuko, Luffy, Aang, Zoro, and Toph left the two boys behind who were talking about electricity and the like to head towards the tower in the middle of the island. In the growing darkness, the streetlights grew more prominent and the glass windows installed in the rock faces glowed eerie and dream-like making Aang think of glow-flies. Although a few of the houses had double windows, making Aang think of strange eyes peering out at them. The group eventually reached the tower, and each of them stared up at it in curiosity.

"I wonder how high it goes," Aang craned his neck and squinted as he tried to see the top in the darkness. He could see the faint glow of lights at the top.

"Around 700 feet," an old man with wild gray hair answered with a chuckle, and he continued, "That tower powers the whole island of Felsen. We're also known as Lightning Rod Island. This tower is our island's pride and joy; it powers just about everything that we do."

"Oh, wow…" Aang said in admiration.

The old man introduced himself, "I'm Ampere, and I've maintained this tower for about 63 years now." He rubbed his chin and looked quite proud. "If you come back in the morning, you'll get to see this island in all her glory, and there'll be a tour too."

"I want to see the top!" Luffy announced, and before anyone could stop him, he Gum-Gum Rocketed himself up to the top of the tower. The others could just barely hear him shout with awe at the sight that was before him. Luffy waved to them and was yelling and pointing towards something.

"What's he doing?" Zuko asked, while Ampere was in a panic.

"I think he's pointing towards the Sunny." Aang said, wondering why Luffy felt the need to climb and the tower, plus why Ampere was now shouting at Luffy in a panic.

"He needs to get down from there!" Ampere looked ready to pull his hair out if it meant Luffy would come down from the tower. He waved his arms and yelled, "Young man! You need to get down from there _now! _Otherwise I won't be responsible for what happens!"

"What's going to happen?" Zuko asked, and Ampere didn't answer for a minute or two as he continued to try desperately to get Luffy's attention to no avail.

"In less than a minute there's going to be-" he was cut off by a loud crack and flash of light as lightning that seemed to come from out of nowhere in the clear evening sky struck the tower and Luffy. Various parts of the tower glowed brightly as the lightning struck it, and faded out again when the lightning stopped.

"_NOO!"_ Ampere screamed. Aang and Zuko could do nothing but shield their eyes and stare in anticipated horror as memories of a lightning bending Azula came to both of their minds. Her lightning bending seemed almost weak in comparison to the lightning that struck the tower. The lights around them gave off a faint flicker, and continued to maintain their steady glow.

"Haha!" Luffy shouted triumphantly as he fell towards them. He twisted himself successfully landing on his feet at the base of the tower in front of them. Black smoke rose steadily from his person as he brushed himself off.

"That was fun!" Luffy proclaimed.

"What was that?!" Zuko demanded, and before he knew what he was doing, he hit Luffy across the head out of the needless worry he had felt for the Pirate Captain. Aang stared at Zuko in surprise.

"Well, someone had to!" Zuko defended when he noticed Aang's questioning expression.

Luffy rubbed his head and just briefly gave Zuko a pouty look, but grinned as he responded,

"I'm a rubber man; that kinda stuff never works on me."

Ampere looked as if he was about to have a heart attack. He seemed to be hyperventilating. "You're a Devil Fruit-user?" he asked in between breaths. "That doesn't give you the excuse to worry an old man like me! My heart can't take things like this…"

"Sorry," Luffy said with a laugh.

It was then Aang realized something:

"Where are Toph and Zoro?"

"Oh, they split up from us after Usopp and Sokka started talking about the mystery power." Luffy said.

"And you didn't say anything?"

"Well it's not like we have to worry about them or anything," Luffy defended, and stated simply, "They're with each other after all."

"Let's just go find them." Zuko said with a huff. "It's best if we at least _try_ stay together."

As they walked, Aang turned to Luffy and asked, "So electricity doesn't work on rubber? What exactly is it? Rubber really would be something useful to have… How does it work?"

"Hmm…" Luffy began. "Well…"

Luffy's face started to turn red in a rather feverish manner as he scrunched his face and tried to think of an answer to Aang's question. Since it seemed that Luffy was literally getting physically ill from trying to think of an answer, Aang gave up and figured he would just ask Usopp or Franky, as they seemed to be the more knowledgeable ones on this particular subject.

"…Uh, it's okay, you don't have to tell me…" Aang said, relieving Luffy of his rather daunting task of having to think too much.

"Yosh, okay!" Luffy responded, recovering in mere seconds.

* * *

"And so," Usopp concluded, "I believe that tower acts as a sort of generator that the residents of this island depend on for everyday life."

"That's amazing!" Sokka said. He started to wonder if they could somehow harness electricity in his home World. There was a loud crack and a flash of light, and lightning struck the tower, which confirmed Usopp's theory that the island used the tower as a type of generator.

Needless to say, Sokka was very impressed. He felt that they could learn so much from this World, and that they should take every advantage to learn what they could while they were here. Sokka started trying to think about the ways he could apply some of this World's technology to his own. He was definitely going to have a long talk with the mechanist when they got back.

"How is that possible?" Sokka asked, "There isn't even a cloud in the sky!"

"It's likely the natural phenomena of the New World," Usopp nodded. "There's all sorts of stories about things happening in the New World that I've heard and read about that seem to defy logic."

Sokka and Usopp started walking towards the tower, and had nearly gotten halfway there when they met up with Zuko, Aang, and Luffy. Upon realizing that two certain people were not present, Sokka asked,

"Hey, where're Zoro and Toph?"

"Zoro said he wanted to go for a walk or something," Luffy answered.

"Why didn't you at least ask where they were going?" Sokka asked, and Zuko sighed, feeling very tempted to hit Luffy over the head again.

"Okay, let's just backtrack." Sokka continued. "Where did they split off from us? We can probably find them easily if we know which direction they went."

"Gyaaa!" Usopp started. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"Zoro gets lost going in a straight line; he isn't going to be anywhere _near_ the direction that he originally set off in." Usopp lamented, a frustrated whine evident in his voice. "He could be anywhere by now, plus _he's_ guiding Toph around. Luffy, why did you let them wander off on their own?"

Sokka slapped his forehead. "Great, we can't go back without them. Why would Toph go off alone with him in the first place?"

A look of frustration came over Zuko, and he demanded of both the Straw Hat Captain and the Sniper, "How can a person get lost going in a straight line?!"

"Probably 'cause he's an idiot." Luffy laughed.

Usopp only shrugged, "I don't know, but he manages it." Looking up to the heavens as if searching for an answer and lamenting their bad luck once again, Usopp said, "Why did we take our eyes off of Zoro?"

Zuko, Aang, and Sokka easily imagined Katara glaring at them.

_"Why would you let Toph go off like that? We can't just leave her and think she's going to come back on her own! Plus we're in a strange place! Go find her!"_

Usopp visibly shivered as they easily imagined Nami hitting each of them over the head with her fists demanding,

_"Why would you leave a _blind_ girl to be led around by an idiot like Zoro?! What were you thinking? Go find them!"_

Sanji would be alongside her, equally demanding an answer saying,

_"Why would you leave our cute little Toph-chan in the care of that stupid Marimo?!" _

"We have got to find them!" A determined Usopp said, clenching his fist for emphasis.

"But we don't have anything to worry about, they're with each other," Luffy insisted.

"Then you get to be the one to tell that to Nami when we go back to the Sunny without them," Usopp said.

At the sudden realization of what Usopp's words meant, Luffy took a deep breath and called out, "ZORO! TOPH! COME OUT!"

Luffy was immediately silenced by numerous people sticking their heads out of doors and windows admonishing him.

"What are you doing? Do you have any idea what time it is? Be quiet!"

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, and he started to have something of an understanding as to why the other Pirates acted the way they did towards Luffy. A feeling of sympathy for them slowly rose up in him. Taking a deep breath, he began,

"Okay, let's just look for them. Sokka and I will go this way, Usopp and Luffy, you go that way. Aang, you have your glider. Look for them from the air, and let's try to meet back here in half an hour. We don't need to get any more split up then we already are."

Doing as they were directed, they split up to look for the directionally challenged swordsman and the blind earthbender.

* * *

When Usopp and Sokka had stopped to talk about the mechanisms of electricity, Zoro couldn't have cared less, and Toph couldn't have agreed more with him. Slowly taking in the sights around them, Zoro said, "I'm gonna go for a walk this way, I'm not really interested in seeing the tower."

Toph hurried to catch up with Zoro, saying, "You mind if I come with you? The tower isn't going to do much for me, either. Besides, I want to spend as time on land as I can before heading back to the Sunny, and I don't want to do it hanging around some tower."

"Do whatever you want," Zoro replied nonchalantly. "Hm. This way looks interesting."

And with that, the odd pair set off by themselves to explore another section of the town. The majority of the shops had already closed for the night, but after a while Zoro and Toph came upon a store that was still open. A flashing sign advertised locally-brewed sake and gambling, and Zoro stopped to consider whether or not he should try to get some of the alcohol.

"Why'd you stop?" Toph asked.

"It's a tavern," Zoro answered thoughtfully.

The local tavern was quite lively, and Toph could hear the music and voices and smell alcohol from where she stood beside Zoro.

"You want to go in?" she questioned, wondering if Zoro thought about anything else other than sleep, sake, and training. Although she wanted to walk around a bit longer, she didn't necessarily want to go around by herself in a strange town she knew nothing about. Before Zoro could answer, a man's voice called out to them.

"Welcome, welcome!" the man said, bowing repeatedly. "Good sir, won't you and the young lady come in?"

He stood to the side and motioned to the entrance of the tavern, allowing them to see, hear, and smell what was potentially waiting inside. He motioned to the flashing sign, saying, "As the signs say, we've got drinking and gambling! Why don't you come in for a drink and try your luck?"

Toph thought that she could feel something off about the man due to the vibrations that she felt as he spoke. Zoro turned to her, asking, "What do you want to do?"

Toph grinned, "I'm up for it."

"Well, alright. We won't take too long."

Without Katara in the background voicing her dislike for Toph's decisions and behavior, Toph was more than happy to enter the tavern, and actually looked forward to any troublemaking that could potentially come from this decision. Plus, Toph doubted that these people could do anything to her or to Zoro; he seemed pretty tough, plus Zoro didn't seem worried, so why should she be?

"Oh, how wonderful!" the man said, smiling wide. "Welcome! I'm so glad you decided to join us! I'm Morris, by the way. Please, right this way."

Toph could see that the tables and counters were carved out of the rock itself within the tavern, and the chairs were made out of rock and metal. She could see what everyone was doing very easily, and was able to distinguish at least forty people within the tavern, including her and Zoro.

They sat down on carved rock stools at the bar, and Zoro ordered a bottle of the local sake, while Toph decided on some kind of tangy juice. One of the patrons sat a few stools away from them drunkenly turned to Zoro and slurred, "Hey (hic)… don't I (hic) know you from somewhere? (Belch)."

"I just have one of those faces." Zoro said, and glared at the man, "I'm nobody in particular."

Not that he wasn't up for a potential fight, but for now Zoro just wanted to enjoy his sake in peace. He could tell Morris was potentially planning something, but he wasn't sure what. No one was that inviting without having something up their sleeve. The drunkard backed down from Zoro's glare, or maybe he was just too drunk to notice, but he seemed to forget all about the swordsman and ordered another drink.

Toph could hear a small group of the patrons gambling, and she had an idea; an idea that if Katara had been there, she would have protested the idea with every ounce of disapproval that was within her waterbending body.

"Hey Zoro, wanna make some money?" she asked, a devious smile on her face.

Zoro turned his attention to Toph, "Well, we do have to pay for the drinks. What did you have in mind?"

Toph whispered her plan to Zoro, who smiled in response and agreed, "Let's do it. Might as well have some fun since we're here."

Toph and Zoro approached the table where gamblers had crowded around to watch a man play a sort of guessing game with five upside-down cups. A second man sat beside him, looking very pleased at the various pilings of gold, jewels, and belly.

Those who were observing were making bets as to where certain colored marbles would appear. Toph could sense the marbles hidden within the different cups, and found that they were weighted. Toph carefully focused her seismic sense on the cups, and found that there appeared to be small metal plates within the cups.

"I pick that one," a woman was saying. "The green marble is under that one."

A sighted person would have missed it, but Toph had the advantage of being a blind earthbender. She heard a faint _*clink*_ and felt the vibration as the marble within the cup hit the metal plate. Toph sensed another weight drop within the cup that the woman had apparently chosen, and when the man lifted the cup, he apologized, "I'm sorry, it's the red one."

"Oh, damn," the woman sighed, shoving her money towards the dealer "Just my luck."

Toph tapped Zoro's arm and waved her finger for him to come closer, to which he complied.

"He's cheating," Toph whispered. "I don't know how he's doing it, but there is more than one marble in those cups. I think she was right in her guess, but he did something to switch the marbles."

"Must be a Devil Fruit user," Zoro said with a nod.

"Alright, let's do this." Toph said, recalling the scam artist back in the Fire Nation when Team Avatar needed some money. She could tell the weighted marbles were made out of metal, and that she could easily work with.

"Can we have a try?" Zoro asked, taking a seat across from the dealers, and Toph stood behind him.

"Sure, sure, what will you wager?" one of the men asked, and he eyed Zoro's three swords. Toph stepped in and said, "This bracelet. It's genuine meteorite. Plus it can do this:" she showed off some of her earthbending with the bracelet. Since they were going to walk away with the winnings anyway, these people didn't need to know that to make the meteorite bracelet change shape required earthbending. The two men quickly forgot about Zoro's swords and eyed the bracelet with fascination and curiosity. This bracelet had to be just one of the many mysterious treasures of the New World.

"You're on," the dealer in charge of the cups said with a cocky smile, revealing crooked and missing teeth. "Here, you have a choice between three different versions of the same game. You have to find where the red or green marbles are. In one game, you have to guess which color marble is under which cup. The easy version is finding one color marble, but you risk choosing either an empty cup or choosing the cup that has the other marble in it. The second version of the game is basically a more difficult version of the first; you have to find both marbles. The third game is to try and find which of the cups are empty."

"Let's go easy," Toph said. "I want to get a feel for the game."

"Alright," Zoro said. "We'll do the first game; trying to find one color."

"Alright, let's go," the first man said, "We wager 100,000 belly for the bracelet. Which marble are you going to bet on?"

"The green one," Zoro said, and crossed his arms. He watched carefully as the man held up the green marble to display which one Zoro had picked. He placed it under the cup, and then placed the red marble under one of the other cups. He quickly mixed up the four cups, leaving the fifth cup hiding the green marble alone at first. He then took a deep breath saying, "Now, focus on your cup and don't lose sight of it!"

Zoro did just that, and guessed, "The one in the middle,"

"You're…" the man started, and Toph could sense that the weight of the marble was being shifted, so she clenched her fist, ensuring that the marble stayed in place.

"Wro…" the man stopped and stared at the green marble before him, wondering how it was possible, he made a face as he replied, "…Right…"

"Yay!" Toph cheered. "Let's go again!"

They went a few more rounds with Zoro guessing which marbles were under which cup. Toph quickly realized that there were two marbles within each cup. She also quickly learned that the red marble weighed just a bit more than the green one, so she was then able to easily distinguish between the two. Through Zoro's "direction" by him taking guesses saying, "The second cup, red marble," Toph was able to manipulate the marbles using her earthbending, and making Zoro's "guesses" right every time.

After successfully winning a small pile of gold and a few hundred thousand bellies, they were going to call it quits. Toph had "allowed" them to lose some every few rounds so that no one would be suspicious. They were just about to gather up their winnings, but the man who was in charge of the cups slammed his fists down on the table and pointed at them accusingly, "You cheated! I don't know how you did it, but you cheated!"

His partner looked at him, at Zoro and Toph, and then back to him. "Alnico-_aniki_… Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. No one has ever had such a lucky winning streak like that before." Alnico glared at the two figures before him.

Zoro merely responded with a smirk, "Well, maybe we're just that lucky." He took a drink of his sake, showing that he couldn't have cared less about the accusations.

"Len!" Alnico shouted, "We aren't going to let you escape that easily."

Len pulled out a rifle, and pointed it at Zoro.

"You cheated first!" Toph shouted back. "If anything we were playing by _your_ rules!"

If Toph could have seen Zoro's face, it would have said, _you don't need to be telling them that!_ But there were more important things to worry about at the moment.

The patrons of the bar pulled out pistols and swords, along with some of the supposed "victims" of Alnico's scam, and pointed their weapons at the other unsuspecting patrons. Some of the true victims of the scam stood up angrily, and attempted to pull out their weapons as well. A few of the victims glared angrily at the scammers, and one voiced his furious disapproval, "You cheated?!"

One of the men who reached for his sword screamed as he was stabbed in the side by one of the people next to him.

"Don't move," his attacker ordered.

Another one was mercilessly shot when he tried to pull out his sword in defense of his stabbed friend.

Toph flinched at the sudden noise. She had never heard anything like it before, and judging by the way a man's limp body hit the floor, she didn't want to be on the receiving end of whatever that was.

"What was that noise?" she asked slowly. "I've never heard anything like it..."

Zoro glanced at her over his shoulder, "Gunshot. It goes without saying, but you don't want to get hit with a bullet. Can you fight?"

Toph only responded with a nod.

"Good. Get ready."

This incident caused a few of the patrons who weren't involved with the tavern's scamming gang to make a break for the door. They didn't want to get involved in something like this; they weren't fighters. They started shouting,

"It's a fight! Let's get out of here!"

Some members of the gang attempted to block their path, but Morris spoke up, as he walked up slowly to where Toph was standing and Zoro was seated. "Let the runners go, they don't have anything of value."

He turned his attention back to the swordsman and the blind girl.

"Just give us the supplies on your ship and you can be on your way, and the same goes for the rest of you," Morris said, cocking his rifle and holding it to Toph's head. Toph flinched, as she remembered hearing a similar clicking sound before that one man was shot. "Here's how it's going to work. The girl stays here. You show a few of the men here to your ship, they unload any valuables, and you and the little sister won't be harmed. You can also leave those swords and that bracelet."

Zoro grinned as he slowly stood up, "Well, that's going to be a problem, because you see, I can't give up my swords without a fight."

"Don't move!" Len shouted with nervousness evident in his voice. The near-psychotic grin on Zoro's face had really unnerved him.

Toph had never sensed someone move as fast as Zoro did just then. She only registered that he had moved when she heard the clink of one of his swords, and felt something pass over her head, with that particular metal ringing sound that she knew well-made swords had. Zoro's sword cut something and the sound of metal clanging against the rocky floor could be heard a mere few seconds later, followed by a second series of clangs as more metal met stone. When she finally processed what Zoro had done, Toph stood in momentary shock. Just what was he?

"Ah… ah…" Morris was too shocked to say anything, but he collapsed to the floor, obviously shaken. Toph could tell how fearful he was by his rapidly beating heart and ragged breathing. "G-get them! Target the girl, she's blind! She's the weak one!"

Len stared stupidly at his now useless rifle, but he gave a yell of surprise and ducked as Zoro did a stabbing motion with one of his swords in Len's direction. Len fell back, just barely feeling the breeze from Zoro's sword. As the wall behind where Len's head had just been exploded into a series of cracks that traveled outward a few feet, the cracks also traveled vertically to the ceiling and stopped a little over halfway across the room. Len's eyes bulged from their sockets in shock and fear. Seeing what could have happened to his head, and realizing how too close of call it was, Len felt his nether regions become very wet and warm. Len had only heard stories about swordsmen being so skilled that the very wind from a single swing of their swords could cut through mountains. He never exactly believed these stories, thinking them to be nothing more than sailor's tales. There was no way he was going to stay. He got up and ran out of the tavern, fearing for his life. A few people who had witnessed Zoro's attack and Len's actions decided to follow Len's lead. Whoever the crazy, grinning swordsman was, there was no way they were going to stay. Ignoring the objections of Morris and a few others, they fled for their lives and disappeared into the night.

It would be the second of two very big mistakes the tavern gang made that night. The first, was unknowingly threatening Roronoa Zoro. The second was thinking that the blind Toph Beifong was weak. She earthbended three men who attempted to grab her, and swiveled around a few times, chucking rocks at their attackers.

"She's a Devil-Fruit user!" Alnico could be heard shouting above the noise. The other patrons were releasing a mix of groans, yells, and screams as Zoro fought with them. He easily dismembered their rifles and guns, making them practically defenseless. A few did pull out swords and sabers, but they were easily blocked and blown away, standing no chance against Zoro's shear brute strength. When they tried to attack him again, their swords simply broke in half as soon as he blocked their attempted strikes with his swords.

"What is this?!" demanded a man. "These weapons are some of the finest quality of our metalwork and he cuts it as if it were nothing!"

Something whizzed by Toph's head, followed closely by another projectile. The second projectile left a decent scratch on Toph's cheek, but she didn't have time to pay it any attention as she heard metal clinking sounds shoot in her direction. She quickly raised a wall, blocking the series of attacks. Two men came at her from either side, and she raised walls around her as defense. She could feel them banging on the rock in an attempt to break through. Turning her defense into offense, she shoved the walls away from herself, taking out more than just the two men who had been trying to attack her.

Toph could then sense Alnico standing across from her, anger and frustration reverberating from his form. She could sense a strange vibration come from his body as he started levitating the numerous marbles in his hands.

"No one cheats us and gets away with it, you little blind bitch." He said menacingly. "RAPID FIRE!"

Toph quickly raised another wall between herself and Alnico, and saw that the marbles had penetrated nearly halfway through her defense. What was with that power? Remembering that the chairs were also made of rock and metal, she earthbended a few of them at Alnico, causing him to focus more on dodging then attacking. He was surprisingly quick for a heavy-set man, and he quickly started grabbing at a few things that were around him before diving to the side. Toph tried to predict his movements, but he didn't land where she thought he would. She sensed strange vibrations in the floor, and Alnico was shouting, "Repel Float!"

A series of strange vibrations shot through the floor, as Toph heard metal clinking together. Alnico disappeared from Toph's senses briefly, before a series of light vibrations came from his direction, and his form was traveling across the floor, tapping at the scattered metal pieces that were strewn about the floor. His full figure appeared in Toph's senses again, about ten feet from where he had originally been standing.

Toph was beginning to somewhat understand his ability that was most likely magnetism. She was about to release another attack in his direction, when Zoro called out to her.

"Toph! Look out!"

Toph felt Zoro grab her collar and yank, and she heard metal crash right where she had been standing. Zoro released her to block another attack, and Toph stood close to Zoro, focusing on everyone around her. She could see that right where she had been standing, numerous swords and piping from the chairs had been stuck into the ground. Toph mentally slapped herself as she realized she had unintentionally given Alnico weapons when she had thrown the chairs at him just a few moments ago. From her understanding so far, it seemed that Alnico had to be in direct contact with the metal before he could actually attack or do anything with it.

Toph was forced to focus all of her attention on Alnico, who seemed intent on killing her. That suspicion was confirmed when she heard someone scold Alnico, "We want her alive, Alnico! She's our bargaining chip!"

Alnico grabbed a few scattered pieces of swords and pistols, and said, "I don't care! No one makes a fool of me, or cheats me, and thinks that they can get away with it! Magnetic Field!"

The metal that he was holding clinked against each other at first as it floated into the air, and Alnico started to run around the perimeter of the room in an attempt to flank Zoro and Toph. Sensing that Alnico was attempting to get at them from another angle, and not wanting him to do that floating ability again, she quickly earthbended what metal she could towards herself and timing her bending just right, Toph sent a fissure right under his foot just as it made contact with the floor. Successfully tripping him, he crashed to the floor. He screamed as he wiggled on the floor to dodge his own projectiles. Before he could recover, she sent a pillar underneath him and sent him flying. His falling form unintentionally took out a few of the people that Zoro was currently fighting. Alnico groaned as he passed out.

A small group of people attempted to rush Zoro from behind, but Zoro only grinned ever wider. Quickly turning around to face his attackers head-on, Zoro shouted his attack.

"Lion's Song!"

The people screamed as the backs of Zoro's swords struck them.

"Who _is_ this guy?" one of them whined in between pained groans.

Zoro sent another dull slash into the crowd, "Demon Slash!" causing another wave of screams. In spite of seriously holding back against the weaker opponents, that didn't stop the force behind his swords from cutting the pillars Toph had made and sending more cracks up and down the walls. Zoro grinned as he watched the earthbender girl fight Alnico and a few of the other members of the gang. She was pretty good. It was a shame that her talents were being wasted on these low-class crooks. A few more of the crooks decided to take their leave after witnessing Zoro easily cut through their weapons. "Let's get out of here! We can't fight these two!"

"Ohh! What's going on here?!" Luffy's familiar exuberant voice asked above the noise.

"Wait a second…" Toph heard a man say in a shaky voice. "Three swords… a straw hat… They're the Straw Hat Pirates!"

"You mean we've been trying to scam Pirate Hunter Zoro?!" another one shouted.

"If I had known it was him I wouldn't even be here right now!" a woman wailed.

"How could we not have known it was them?!" another one panicked.

"You're just realizing that _now?!"_ Zoro demanded. But he was only answered with pleas for mercy and forgiveness.

Realizing that they were fighting a losing battle, Morris ordered, "We have no chance, especially if Straw Hat is here. Let's scatter!"

Anyone who wasn't knocked out ran for the exit, with a few of them bowing and pleading with Zoro as they ran past him. "Please forgive us! We had no idea who you were, honestly! We're sorry!"

"Aw, we missed the party," Luffy said, looking disappointed.

At the sight of Luffy and Usopp, the people pleaded with the Straw Hat Captian through teary-eyed sobs, "We didn't mean any of it! Please forgive us!"

Luffy only blinked at them, a confused expression on his face.

"Look at his face!" one of the crooks screamed. "He's going to kill us!"

That just sent another wave of pleading and screaming as everyone ran out into the streets and disappeared among the rocks and buildings.

"Let's just be glad we did," Usopp replied with a nod. "Why were they apologizing to us anyway? What happened here?"

He looked around at the now destroyed tavern which had broken and cracked tables and chairs, along with numerous pillars and slabs jutting out of the floor and walls, and it was obvious that Zoro had used his precise cutting skills to slice a few tables and chairs in half.

The unconscious forms of Toph's and Zoro's opponents lay amongst the rubble.

Zoro sheathed his swords, "Just wasting time." He turned and asked Toph, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Toph wiped at the blood on her cheek, but that action only resulted in smearing the blood, dirt, and sweat into a caked mixture.

"What's all this?" Usopp asked, looking over the strewn about treasure and belly.

"Our winnings," Toph answered. "Let's just gather it and get out of here. This place feels like it's going to collapse."

Anyone who would have objected to their taking all of the treasure was either knocked out or had fled the tavern, leaving the pirates and Toph to do as they pleased. Luffy found a few potato sacks behind the counter for them to put their treasure (and then some) in, along with a few pounds of meat. Zoro gathered a few bottles of the sake behind the bar, and looked quite pleased with his find. Usopp carried one of the sacks of treasure, half complaining half admonishing Toph and Zoro for wandering off like they did and for their getting into a bar fight.

"If only we had gotten there sooner," Luffy said through a mouthful of meat. "We could have been involved in the party too." He balanced carrying the sack and his meat in one hand while he ate with the other.

Usopp, Luffy, Zoro, and Toph met up with Sokka, Zuko, and Aang just a few minutes later at the rendezvous point. Of course the three of them looked at Toph and asked, "Are you alright? What happened?"

"It was nothing. No need to worry." Toph insisted.

"It was a bar fight," Zoro informed them. "The people at the bar tried to scam us, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. They were weak idiots. It was kind of disappointing…"

"I wish I had been there…" Luffy said, while the guys of Team Avatar went wide-eyed and all three asked various questions,

"You went to a _bar?_" Zuko asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Why would you go to a bar?" Sokka asked. He eyed the pirates' potato sacks filled with treasure, Luffy's meat and Zoro's numerous bottles of sake under his arm. "There has to be more interesting places on this island than a bar."

"What if someone had gotten seriously hurt?" Aang asked, eyeing the scratch on Toph's cheek with some concern. But Toph only shrugged in response. "There was drinking and gambling. Besides, it was a band of cheaters and thieves, so it's not like we did anything wrong by taking what they've stolen first."

Zoro looked between the three boys, as if he was wondering if they were truly serious, and then at Toph, because she sounded very much like a certain navigator just then.

"It's not like anyone got hurt, and from what I saw, Toph can take care of herself. I was impressed." Turning his attention to Toph, he continued, "I'd actually like to see what you could do against a worthy opponent."

"You weren't so bad yourself," Toph said. She thought of Alnico trying to skewer her, and of Zoro's rescuing her. "And thanks, for earlier. I almost was a boar-q-pine back there."

"Don't mention it," Zoro said, and then he paused for a moment. "What's a boar-q-pine?"

"It's a very nasty creature," Zuko explained, "It's a huge tusked pig with large spines. They're very territorial, and it's best not to run into one in the wild, or in general."

Usopp, Luffy, and Zoro each tried to imagine the creature, but of course none of them were even close as they imagined their own strange versions of the creature.

Luffy was imagining a big fat pink pig with tiny tusks and large spines, and thought it to be around the size of the creatures back on Rusukaina Island where he had trained. His mouth watering, Luffy said, "I wonder how it would taste!"

Zoro imagined a large pig with huge tusks like that of an elephant, so the spikes were too big for its face, with large spines protruding through its leather-like skin. "Doesn't seem to be that big of a threat to me," Zoro mused.

Usopp imagined a pig that was roughly the size of an elephant, with numerous tusks and spikes as sharp as swords protruded from its back. Plus, instead of oinking or squealing, it roared, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth. "I could easily fight one, no, _one hundred_ boar-q-pines!" Usopp proclaimed, although he shivered at the thought of ever actually running into just one of the strange creatures.

Sokka, Zuko, and Aang wondered what sort of imaginations these pirates could have for coming to the conclusions that they did. It was getting fairly late as they continued on their way to the Sunny. It was already pretty dark as they made their way through the town, and the lights inside of the homes that they passed were going dark as the residents prepared for bed.

* * *

The fact that they were arriving as late as they were on their return to the Sunny was something that a worried Katara and an annoyed Nami were not going to forgive quite so easily. Katara expressed her worry through a series of questions directed at any and all who were willing to answer her.

"Hey, what's going on? Is everything alright?"

Nami expressed her annoyance through glaring at her crew members, and looked as if she wanted to hit them all across the head. "Why are you so late in coming back to the ship?"

"Sheesh, do we really have to play 'Twenty Questions'?" Toph asked, and that was when Katara noticed the cut on her cheek.

"Toph," Katara demanded, "What happened to your cheek?"

"We got into a bit of a fight at a tavern, but-"

"You went to a tavern? Why would you go to a tavern?" Katara asked, crossing her arms.

"Sheesh, going to a bar of all places," Nami said, looking more annoyed at her crew members.

"Well, it wasn't like it was for nothing," Toph jabbed a thumb in Usopp and Luffy's direction. "Me and Zoro ended up getting quite a bit of money. Usopp and Luffy here have the loot."

Katara would have persisted and admonished Toph and the others in her motherly and authoritative way if Nami hadn't of interrupted her.

"Oh, Katara-chan, you can forgive them can't you?" Nami said, her eyes glittering far brighter than the gold, "After all, it's not like they arrived back at the ship _too_ late. And just look at all of this beautiful treasure! Toph-chan, Zoro-kun, thank you!"

Nami motioned for the two treasure bearers to follow her so she could lock away the money in her safe. Chopper stepped up to clean and dress the cut on Toph's cheek, while Sanji hovered over them as if Toph was getting a life-saving operation. Toph relayed to the others the events at the tavern, excitedly telling them about her fight with some guy named Alnico who had weird magnetic powers.

Sanji also made sure to make a point of admonishing and accusing Zoro for being irresponsible and allowing Toph to get hurt.

"How could you let Toph-chan get hurt, you shitty Marimo?"

"Stupid Curly-Brow cook, I didn't _let_ it happen. She's fine."

"She could have seriously been hurt!" Sanji insisted, and attempted to kick Zoro. Zoro unsheathed one of his swords and glared, challenging the chef.

"You wanna have a go, Ero-cook?"

The two started their routine bickering, while Katara looked on. She was annoyed by the fact that Zoro had seemingly put Toph in danger, even if going into the tavern and the gambling had been her idea, he had agreed to it. While she wanted to admonish Zoro, admittedly he had stepped up and had protected her. Plus it seemed that Sanji was genuinely concerned for Toph's well-being. At the moment, Toph was laughing at Zoro and Sanji. Katara smiled, because this was the happiest she had seen Toph in days. As Zoro and Sanji continued to argue, Katara had to giggle at their antics. Toph spurred them on, and called out,

"Go Zoro!"

Sanji suddenly stopped and called out, "Why don't you cheer for me too, Toph-chan? What about you, Katara-san? Oh, Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, your knight in shining- oomph!"

Zoro used the distraction to give Sanji a decent hit in the stomach. He smirked at his victory. A flame seemed to spurt from Sanji's body.

"That was a cheap shot and you know it!"

"Then you should have been paying attention, Dartboard-brow!"

As Zoro and Sanji continued to argue through the use of name-calling and insults, Katara had to giggle at their antics.

That night after dinner, Toph settled into bed and thought about the fight in the tavern. She was very happy with how things had turned out, and was glad that she had been able to see some action and relieve some of her pent-up energy while on this island. Toph fell asleep almost immediately, feeling very content. Today had been a good day.

* * *

**More A/N: Bar fight! Decided to throw a little action into this chapter, and had quite a bit of fun writing it. Hopefully, Luffy will get to join in on the next party.**

**I'm also looking for an illustrator job as I am working on this fic. Do you or anyone you know need an illustrator? (Hope a little self-pimpage is okay).**


	10. Preparations

_Chapter Ten: Preparations_

_**Countdown: Two months, 24 days left**_

Sokka was fast asleep when he felt something bump him. At first, he only mumbled in his sleep and shifted to a more comfortable position. He was then rudely awakened by someone kicking him hard enough to knock him to the floor. Sokka tumbled across the floor, before he stopped. He didn't move at first due to his annoyance and the slight pain that throbbed in various parts of his body. He sat up quickly to confront whoever it was that had rudely awoken him.

He stared with an annoyed expression at the scene before him: He had apparently somehow been kicked from his bed by Sanji, who was tossing and turning in his sleep mumbling,

"Stupid Marimo,"

"You're an idiot, Ero-cook… (snore)" Zoro replied… in his _sleep_.

"Oi, Sanji…" Luffy mumbled, "I'm hungry… feed me…"

"You just ate…"

"Luffy… save some for the rest of us…" Usopp mumbled.

These people were crazy… arguing and fighting in their sleep, seriously. Nature was calling, so Sokka went to take care of that morning routine. When he came back, he noticed that Zoro had actually pulled out one of his swords and was sort of just swinging it in the air. Okay, these people were _really_ crazy. Sokka, who prided himself on being able to sleep through almost anything, even Aang's snoring and the through the others' crazy bending practices, could not sleep through two people who insisted on fighting with each other, no matter what they were doing. It seemed dangerous to try to go back to bed, so Sokka stretched and yawned, and gave the cook and the swordsman one last annoyed look before leaving.

The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon as Sokka went out on the deck on his way to the kitchen to find something to eat. Hopefully he could find something that wasn't under lock and key. He saw Law sitting out on the deck, and at first wondered if Law ever got any sleep at all. That would probably explain the bags under his eyes. But it became obvious that he was asleep due to the steady rise and fall of his shoulders.

"You did the smart thing and slept out here…" Sokka said to no one in particular. He admittedly felt some pity for Law, who it seemed, had resorted to sleeping outside to avoid being involved with the other Pirates' sleeping shenanigans. Sokka continued on his quest for the kitchen, and when he got there was relieved to see that a small bowl of fruit was available. It wasn't meat, but Sokka figured that could wait until Sanji woke up to prepare breakfast.

It wasn't until the first hint of light began to shine through the windows and across the deck that Sokka heard people waking up and moving about the ship. Sanji stretched and yawned as he entered the kitchen, as he said, "Good morning, Sokka…"

Sanji then fully registered that Sokka was there, and asked, "Why are you up so early?"

"I was rudely awoken by someone kicking me." Sokka said pointedly to Sanji. "Seriously, I had no idea that people could have an argument in their sleep. This was the third time this week I've woken up to arguing."

"What are you talking about?" Sanji asked. "And seriously, why are you up so early?"

"Never mind…" Sokka replied. It seemed that the cook either had no idea that he argued with the others while asleep, or he didn't understand what Sokka was trying to get at.

The kitchen was soon filled by the others slowly coming in and saying the routine morning greetings. Katara started to set the table while Zuko offered to make tea.

"I was trained by the best," Zuko said, obviously thinking of Uncle Iroh.

"Yeah, sure," Sanji said as he prepared a large pan of eggs. He motioned with a nod of his head behind him, "The tea is in that cabinet there."

Zuko began to boil the water just like Uncle Iroh had showed him.

_"You see, Prince Zuko… there is a secret art to even boiling the water," Uncle Iroh said, watching the boiling pot carefully. "Most people think that you steep the tea right away, but the water has to be just right. It can't be too hot or not hot enough. And depending on the type of tea, you must let it steep for just a few minutes, or just a bit longer. Some types of tea are so delicate and full of flavor that if you let it steep for too long, it will be bitter and undrinkable. It requires love and patience in order to be at its best."_

_ Zuko gave his uncle a small smile, "It's just tea, Uncle. It's not like tea dictates our lives or anything."_

_ Iroh looked at his nephew and said in a mock scolding tone, "Have I taught you nothing, Nephew? Tea is like life in so many ways, you know. Don't ever forget that. It's an art, like poetry!"_

Zuko half smiled at the memory, but he focused on what he was doing. Once the water was boiled to just the right temperature, Zuko poured the tea making sure that it steeped for just the right amount of time. Zuko could tell the tea was done just right by the color and the smell, so he served those sitting at the table.

"This is delicious, Flame-kun," Robin said, looking up at Zuko from where she sat with her classic smile.

"Zuko-san, this is a tremendous delight," Brook declared. "My tongue has never tasted such a wonderful flavor… Oh, but I don't have a tongue! Yohohoho! Skull joke!"

Zuko along with a few of the others rolled their eyes at the skull joke, which quickly turned to faces of disgust when Brook spoke up again, "Ah, excuse me" and flatulence emitted itself from the living skeleton, followed by a belch. Katara looked somewhat embarrassed, but she continued about her business helping Sanji prepare breakfast, Aang looked uncomfortable, and he looked around at the ceiling as if it was incredibly interesting. Sokka shook his head, and looked as if he wanted to slap his forehead. Toph laughed, "Good one, Brook!" she then followed up with one of her own belches. "Top that," she challenged.

"Toph!" Katara said, "We're getting ready to eat; that's disgusting!"

"We're just having a bit of fun. Loosen up, Sweetness." Toph said with a laugh.

"Ah, Toph-chan, she even belches like a lady," Sanji said with a wistful smile.

"I can't believe Sanji-kun would say something like that…" Nami murmured as she took a sip of tea.

Luffy laughed and clapped at Brook's and Toph's crude game.

Kin'emon entered the kitchen with an almost medium-sized pink dragon walking by his side. Upon seeing this, those who were unfamiliar with Momonosuke's ability stared wide-eyed in surprise.

"You have a pet dragon?" Zuko questioned, absolutely fascinated. He wondered why he hadn't seen the dragon around before.

Before Kin'emon could reply, Momonosuke defensively spoke up, "I'm not a pet dragon! I accidentally transformed last night. I haven't figured out how to control my Devil Fruit ability just yet, but I'll get there, you'll see!"

These Devil Fruit abilities were getting stranger and more fascinating as those of Team Avatar learned about them.

As breakfast was served, everyone stared at the mouth-watering food; bacon, eggs, toast, rice balls, ramen, and miso were on the menu. "Time to eat!" the pirates said excitedly, and dug in. By now, Team Avatar had learned to guard their food carefully and to eat quickly, as when Luffy got excited; he would grab food from everyone else's plates. He seemed content to eat off of his own plate this morning which was piled high with eggs, toast, and bacon.

As they ate, Nami believed it was a good idea to set out an agenda for the day, while they were at Felsen Island.

"Here's the plan;" Nami started in her authoritative manner. "We'll buy whatever supplies we need for the ship while we're here. Thanks to Toph-chan and Zoro-kun's contributions last night, it has made the job much easier. Since we don't know who or what we'll be going up against, we have to be prepared."

"Can we buy souvenirs?" Chopper asked innocently. "Plus, we didn't have a chance to explore the mushroom forest island, but this place may have some interesting medicines. I want to have a look around!"

"Of course," Nami said with a smile. "I wonder if this island has any cute clothing."

"I want to go see the tower again," Luffy said between mouthfuls. He motioned at those who didn't explore the island with him and the others last night, proclaiming, "You're coming too!"

"Don't decide things like that on your own…" Sanji said with a sigh. "If Robin-chan, Nami-san, Toph-chan, and Katara-san wish to leave or stay on the ship, it's entirely up to them."

The conversation went on like this for a while, leaving those of Team Avatar to wonder what was going on. Didn't this originally start out as a plan of action of sorts? And now everyone was talking about exploring, shopping, food, and what the next island could be.

Zuko laughed and smiled. "That would be a great idea. We might as well relax and enjoy ourselves while we're here." Zuko then paused, wondering why he was suddenly sounding so enthusiastic. Even his friends were giving him curious looks, as the normally serious Fire Lord suddenly became so easy-going. Zuko put on a look of embarrassment that he unsuccessfully tried to hide, and continued to eat, quickly stuffing his face with ramen.

"Well, I guess we should see if they have any decent swords that we can buy," Sokka said, "All of our stuff got left behind. Toph mentioned that the people here had swords, so maybe me and Zuko can find some decent ones."

"But we don't have any money," Zuko said, coming to the realization. Sokka looked at him, and sighed. "I feel so useless… I don't have Boomerang, I can't swordbend, and at least you have your firebending…"

"I could lend you some," Nami said with a smile.

"Really?" Sokka asked eagerly, and even Zuko smiled at the navigator.

"Thanks, Nami-" Zuko started, but stopped when a twinkle appeared in the navigator's eye.

"But you have to pay me back, %300 the interest."

"What! But we're already paying you to escort us!" protested Zuko. "How much more are you going to charge us?"

"That's a different matter entirely," Nami reasoned with a nod. "I want payment where payment is due."

"Alright, fine…" This was a losing battle, wasn't it?

"Um… Zoro?" Sokka spoke up, looking at the swordsman with his best puppy-dog eyes. "Could you help me and Zuko pick out swords today? Please? I mean, you're so knowledgeable and all."

Zoro sighed. "Alright, fine."

Katara couldn't help but smile at the antics of the Pirate crew, as she was getting used to their seemingly endless and crazy energy. Katara was working on what was probably her forth slice of toast. She had no idea that bread could taste like this, and she made a mental note of making sure to ask Sanji for the recipe. Katara noticed that the last remaining slice was on a serving dish between her and Law. Katara admittedly really wanted that last slice, and felt some guilt for possibly depriving the others at the table from enjoying the toast. But let it not be said that Katara had forgotten her manners. She should at least offer it to someone else, even if it was just one person, before indulging herself. Offer, but pray silently that he declines. If he accepts, smile nonetheless.

"Excuse me, Mr. Law?" Katara started, but Law didn't look as if he was paying those around him any attention. In fact, he seemed overly focused on his ramen, with an odd look of determination on his face.

Law stared at his ramen, carefully repeating to himself, _don't get pulled into their pace. Don't get pulled into their pace. Don't get pulled into their pace_. Over and over again like a mantra. As long as he focused, he wouldn't be dragged into the Straw Hats' antics. From what he had learned observing the firebender, he tended to be quite serious and didn't exactly joke around. But he had gotten pulled into the Straw Hats' exuberant and irritating energy more than once. If Law could help it, he wasn't going to get dragged in again, in fact…

"Excuse me, Mr. Law?" a voice interrupted his thoughts.

The waterbender's blue eyes met Law's gray ones.

He swallowed. "…Yes?"

She smiled at him, saying in a half-joking manner, "Your ramen looks very interesting. I said your name at least three times before you answered."

Awkward pause.

"…Ah… (Ahem) Uh… Do want the last bit of toast here?" Katara asked innocently, pointing to the lonely slice of bread left on the platter.

"I don't like bread;" Law started. "How anyone can even eat the stuff is beyond..."

He suddenly stopped, reassumed his serious disposition and quickly added,

"No thanks. I don't want it."

Judging by the surprised look on his face, it was as if Law wasn't expecting to reveal such a thing, even if it was just saying he didn't like a certain type of food. Katara did her best to hide her amused smile, noting Law's embarrassment. She quickly took the piece of toast, and while she ate, she thought that Law was certainly out of his element amongst the Straw Hats. He didn't share their exuberance. Katara wondered if the rest of Law's crew was like him; overly serious and reserved.

* * *

After breakfast was over, Franky stayed behind on the ship to make a few minor repairs and adjustments, plus make sure that cola was stocked in full and Kin'emon agreed to help Franky.

Everyone was deciding who was going to go where, and Nami was making sure that everyone would meet back at the ship at a certain time. She handed a Den Den Mushi to Usopp, Zoro, and one to Sanji in the case that anything came up.

"Here we are," Nami said, as she handed out the necessary amounts of belly to Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp. Turning to the chef, she continued, "Here's a list of the things I know for sure we need, you know what needs to be stocked in the kitchen. Just get whatever you need, Sanji-kun."

"You're so generous, Nami-swan!" Sanji said, as he twirled.

"Hmm-mm," she only nodded, as she counted out the belly she intended to take with her to the shopping district.

Momonosuke (still in his dragon form), Nami, Robin, Toph, Katara, Zoro, Zuko, and Sokka went to the shopping district, while Sanji dutifully went on his way to the market, talking out loud to himself about what he was planning to cook for the ladies. Along the way, he made a mental note to buy a lot of meat. With two meat-lovers onboard, Sanji now had to buy and prepare extra portions. Thankfully, while Sokka's love of meat rivaled even that of Luffy's, his stomach at least had a limit.

* * *

Luffy lead the way as he, Usopp, Chopper, Aang, Law, and Brook went to look at the Felsen Island's central tower excitedly telling the others about the "mystery power". Felsen Island was an amazingly busy hub of a place once its residents were up and going about their day. This was also an opportunity for those of Team Avatar to see what other people of this World looked like, and very soon it was obvious that the people of this World came in all shapes, sizes, and heights. It seemed to be the norm for many people to have bodies that were disproportionate to the rest of them. As they walked, they passed a man who was very tall, but was also quite fat. Aang had to wonder how his very thin legs could even support him without breaking. They passed other people who had different hair colors, and there were even those that made even Brook appear short in comparison. Nobody really seemed to pay any of them any mind as they walked, with only the occasional curious glances the residents would give new faces.

They reached the tower fairly quickly, and Usopp quickly stopped Luffy from doing another Gum-Gum Rocket up to the top. A small crowd had gathered around, and a young woman dressed as an attendant waved and smiled at the crowd.

"Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone, I am Hikari, I will be your guide today. It will be my pleasure in providing you with the history and information of the great Felsen Island." she greeted in an overly chipper voice, and as if she was joyfully reading from a script, Hikari continued. "This is Felsen Tower, the central power system for all of Felsen. By utilizing the power of natural lighting storms that occur in this particular area of the Grand Line, Felsen is not only habitable, but the tower also makes the seas within a five-hundred mile radius safe for travel, thus making it possible for other islands to operate in trade and travel as well. Originally, the lightning storms were so bad, that no one was able to travel in this area due to deadly conditions. But, because of the natural metals of this island, and through the combinations of Felsen's founders being the likes of miners, blacksmiths, and metalworkers, along with scientific minds, Felsen Tower soon came to be. Because of this, we were able to time when the lightning storms strike and ensure that the lightning only strikes the tower. "

While Aang and a few of the Pirates stared in genuine interest, there were those who were indifferent, and those who were bored. Luffy was just about to complain about his boredom when he heard Hikari say,

"And a bit of trivia involving the late Pirate King Gol D. Roger;" she was saying, "27 years ago, the Felsen Tower malfunctioned, causing the lightning storms to wreak havoc once again. It was believed that Roger was the cause, and that his appearance brought nothing but bad omens to the islands that he visited. But he was able to navigate the dangerous ocean, in spite of the storms. It was also around this time that the great Doctor Vegapunk provided his insurmountable genius in helping Felsen repair the damage. After doing so, there has never been another incident in which the tower has malfunctioned. A little over two years ago, Wapometal was utilized within the Felsen Tower infrastructure, ensuring a more stable environment and making the tower twice as effective, if not more so."

"So cool…" Luffy's eyes lit up.

Hikari checked some sort of fob watch on her waist, and she smiled at the crowd once again. "Please observe as one of the lightning storms is about to start in exactly one minute, thirty seconds. Please maintain a safe distance of at least thirty feet from the outside of the tower while the storm occurs. This particular storm is going to be an 8.7, so please be prepared for some slight seismic activity. Felsen Tower cannot be held responsible for any injuries and/or deaths that may occur due to irresponsible and/or dangerous behavior. Please note that you have been warned."

She checked her fob watch again. In her chipper voice,

"The storm will start in one minute."

Exactly a minute later, lightning flashed across the sky, striking the tower with such force that it actually shook the ground. A few in the crowd oohed and aahed at the sight.

"Whoa!" Chopper beamed.

"That was even cooler than last time!" Luffy laughed.

"That was so shocking that my eyes almost popped out of my head, even though I don't have any eyes! Yohohoho!"

Luffy raised his hand and called out to Hikari, "Hey, Hika-anekii! Did Roger really come here to Felsen?"

Smiling at him, Hikari nodded her head. "Why yes! My father was a metalworker here at Felsen Tower. He said that he had never seen or felt anything like it before. The tower malfunctioned on the same day that Roger came here. My father admittedly was rather superstitious and believed it was a sign of things to come." Hikari gave a small laugh, "In truth, it was due to human error, and the tower wasn't as stable then. If a few wires are crossed incorrectly, or metal piping is installed without being properly grounded, it can have the exact same effects as what happened all those years ago. Is there anything else I can answer for you, sir?"

But her question was ignored as the Pirates turned their attention away from her and onto other matters:

"This is amazing! Roger was here!" Luffy was ecstatic. "Yosh! Let's go look around everyone!"

"I want cotton candy!" said Chopper.

"Yeah, let's go look and see what they have at the confection stand!" Usopp wholeheartedly agreed. "Afterwards, let's see what else is on the island! Maybe we can find some cool stuff to take back with us."

"Yohohoho," Brook strummed his guitar. "Adventure, ho! Adventure, yay! Yeah!" And he started to sing some sort of song as he walked, with the others shouting phrases that were in the song.

"Let's go down this way!" Luffy ordered his crew. "This street looks the coolest."

Aang gawked at them. "But we ate not even less than half an hour ago!"

He looked at Law as if he could provide him with some sort of logical answer for this turn of events. The look on Law's face told Aang that he was just as lost for answer as he was.

"Let's just go after them, Avatar-ya…" Law said as he adjusted his nodachi.

* * *

As they walked, the group admired the architecture and the fine work that was put into making the island habitable. Seeing the metal poles in the daylight now, they could clearly see how each of the houses and shops were connected with wires that eventually one way or another led to the tower.

"How innovative," Robin admired.

"It looks like the blacksmith is this way," Sokka pointed to a sign. "I guess we'll split off here and meet back at the ship in a few hours."

"Alright," Nami waved at the men. "Oh, and Sokka, Zuko, one last thing before you go,"

"Yes?" the two said almost simultaneously.

Fixing them with an authoritative glare, she continued, "_Don't_ take your eyes off of Zoro. We don't need anyone getting lost."

"Oi, oi," Zoro protested. He gave Nami a slight glare, "I don't get lost. It's signs, pathways, and others' directions that are confusing."

Recalling the previous night's events where Zoro and Toph found their way to a tavern, both Zuko and Sokka gave Nami a definitive nod, promising to keep their eyes on Zoro. This earned both of them an annoyed look from Zoro, but they ignored him. Zuko led the way, with Sokka coming up from the rear.

* * *

Katara smiled at Momonosuke as he walked next to her in his dragon form, and she had to admit that the boy had grown on her quite a bit. She thought for sure that her first thoughts about Momonosuke being a lecher were mistaken. He seemed so innocent and was actually quite cute in her opinion, and his dragon form was even more fascinating plus adorable.

The women stopped at one store where Nami had admired the clothing outfitted on a few mannequins in the window. The attendant smiled and bowed, and rubbed his hands together, expecting a rather large sale, judging by the way Nami was picking out outfits. She pulled Toph and Katara along with her, while Robin followed, with Momonosuke positioned on her shoulder.

Nami pulled out numerous outfits and was smiling to herself. She then handed Katara and Toph a few of the outfits that she had picked out.

"These would look so cute on you!" she said with a smile.

"Cute?" Toph questioned, putting a hand on her hip. "Have you met me, Sugar Cat?"

"Just try it on." Nami insisted.

With Katara's help, Toph put on the outfit and upon seeing her, Nami adoringly clasped her hands. "You look like a doll, Toph-can!"

"Yay." Toph said flatly. "Do we really need these?"

Toph motioned to the dress she was wearing.

"I agree…" Katara started, eyeing the dress she was wearing with some apprehension. While she had worn a two-piece outfit while in the Fire Nation, this one was a little more revealing, especially in the chest area. Nami picked out a few more things to go with the outfit, and Robin put a hat that complemented the outfit on Katara's head.

"You look cute, Katara-chan," Robin said with a smile.

"I agree," Momonosuke said, blush showing through his pink scales.

Katara only responded with a blush of her cheeks. "I-I don't think I could wear this… It doesn't seem like it's something I could…"

She crossed her arms to cover her chest area, and was interrupted by Nami giving her some more clothes, and then Nami went to try on a few outfits herself. Smiling to her companions, she posed in various ways. "How do I look?"

The women chatted back and forth for a while, when the shopkeeper approached the women, a broad smile on his face. He had observed them picking out the finest of outfits he had to offer, and thus believed them to be amongst the royal elite. "Hello ladies," he started with a bow. "How is everything today? Is there anything that I can do for you?"

"Oh, it's fine," Nami replied, holding up another dress that she thought would look good on Toph.

Eyeing the dress, the shopkeeper smiled even wider. "That dress is among our finest of clothing, and is in season with what celebrities and royalty currently wear. It is made out of the finest of silks…"

"Oh, can you get us a few more outfits?" Nami asked, excitedly.

"Of course, it would be my pleasure," the shopkeeper responded, and complied.

Katara wasn't sure how long they were at the store trying on outfits, and she was starting to feel somewhat worn out. Nami had one pile of clothing that was the "just love it" pile, and another that was the "not a favorite" pile, along with a few more piles that Katara wasn't even sure about. The shopkeeper kept on pulling out clothing and describing it and saying that it was in season with who was wearing what, along with what it was made out of, and he even named the people who designed the outfits.

Nami then presented Katara with a very nice wrap-dress of a silky, flower pattern material. "Try this on, Katara-chan," Nami insisted, "I think this would look great on you."

Katara complied, and found that she rather liked the dress. When she stepped out, the looks that Nami, Robin, and even Momonosuke gave Katara showed their genuine approval.

"Aang is going to love it, I think." Nami said.

"I agree," Robin nodded. "Here, try this on,"

She placed a hat on Katara's head, and when Katara saw her reflection, she had to admit she loved the dress. If Gram-gram could see her now, she would say how much Katara had grown as a woman. If Aang saw her in the dress, he would… Katara smiled at the thought.

"I like it," she turned so she could see herself at different angles in the mirror.

After finally trying on one last outfit, Nami said, "Okay, I'm ready. Thank you for everything Shopkeeper-san!"

Nami then proceeded to pick out the more casual and practical outfits that each of them had favored, made sure to grab the wrap-dress, and then threw them into a pile on the checkout counter.

"Okay," Nami started, "I'll take all of these, for 100,000 belly."

The shopkeeper looked shocked. "B-but that one outfit alone is worth 80,000 belly!"

"Oh, alright fine." Nami pulled out a few more outfits. "I'll take these for 150,000 belly, but that's my final offer."

"This isn't some kind of negotiation!" the shopkeeper protested.

"Oh, okay." Nami said with a definite nod. She added a few more outfits. "Then let's do 140,000 belly."

"But that's even lower!" the shopkeeper protested.

"There's no need to be so stingy…" Nami said with a pout.

Katara watched the scene incredulously. She had heard about Nami's tendency to be stingy from a few of the others, but seeing it unfold before her made it seem all the more ridiculous. Getting tired of the whole thing and wanting to leave, Toph took charge.

"Excuse me, Shopkeeper-san," Toph said, as she scratched an itch on her side. "But do you know of the Straw Hat Pirates?"

"…Yes," the shopkeeper answered hesitantly.

"Well, we're on their crew, and we need to get out of here, so either you take 140,000 belly, or a pounding."

She emphasized this by punching a fist into her palm.

The shopkeeper looked back and forth between the women, looking to be in a bit of a panic. "You mean Straw Hat Pirates as in Monkey D. Luffy Straw Hat Pirates?"

"One and the same,"

"Ah, I didn't exactly want it to be known we were here…" Nami mumbled to herself.

Turning back to Nami, "Valued customer, I had no idea who you were. Forgive me. If you wish to purchase these items for 140,000 belly, that is more than fair. Is there anything else we can help you with?"

"No, this is all thank you." Nami said, smiling widely.

The shopkeeper and his assistants packaged all of the clothing the women had picked out, and soon enough they were on their way, leaving the shop in disarray and the shopkeeper in tears.

"Oh, yay! Well, this was productive!" Nami said as they left the store. "Now let's find a few things for our journey to Ha Chi."

They came across a travel shop, and Katara went inside to see what they had. Books on navigation and other forms of travel lined one of the walls, along with a bin of maps. There was another shelf with things like compasses, telescopes and binoculars, and finally, Katara spotted exactly what she was looking for: a decent-sized waterskin. The shopkeeper saw a potential sell, and quickly jumped at the chance. She began upselling the waterskins, explaining how they were made out of Sea King skin, and therefore was quite durable, especially in New World conditions.

Each of the waterskins featured had some sort of pattern on them that likely belonged to the Sea King when it was alive. Katara settled on one that was gray with a sort of purple-striped pattern. After paying for it, Katara then asked the shopkeeper,

"Is there a place where I can fill this with water right now?"

The shopkeeper directed her to a customer bathroom in the back. After Katara had filled the waterskin, she felt assurance and security having the water at her side. If anything were to happen in the future, she was sure to be ready.

* * *

Zoro, Zuko, and Sokka made their way through the shopping district looking for a decent blacksmith or a weapons shop. They looked over numerous swords from weapons shops and blacksmiths, but neither Zuko nor Sokka were seeing something that suited them. The swords they were looking at were definitely of high quality, and even Zoro had to point out that these swords were much better than the ones the thieves from the tavern had been using.

Both Zuko and Zoro had to drag Sokka along at times because he kept stopping at different stores other than what they needed saying. "Hey, can we look inside here?"

"I wonder if one of the blacksmiths will let us use their forge?" questioned Sokka. "It would probably be much easier and cheaper."

They made their way around for a bit longer and almost considered going back to the Sunny without having bought anything at all, when Zoro noticed something: there was a small store in a sort of alleyway that would have easily been overlooked if it were not for the fact that it had a wooden entrance. A sign that read _Spada C__oltello_ was hung above the doorway.

"Let's try that place," Zoro pointed to it. "It looks promising."

"But it's so out of the way…" Zuko pointed out. "What about these other stores?"

"Let's just go."

The store like many other places on the island had been carved into the rock, and numerous lanterns hung from the ceiling. But this store had numerous wooden panels featuring a variety of swords of different shapes and styles, along with types of spears and shields. Blades of other kinds hung on the wall behind the counter where an old man with a bushy beard and eyebrows to match was sitting behind the counter arguing with what appeared to be a customer.

"Go away, Brat." He motioned impatiently with his hand. He took a gulp from a jug in his other hand, and some of the liquid contents ran down his beard, but he ignored it.

"What do you think this is," he continued, "a toy store? I only sell weapons to those responsible enough to use them. Come back once you've learned some respect for the blade. _Then_ I'll consider selling you one of my swords."

"I'm a paying customer!" the young man insisted, obviously irritated.

"I said get out!" the old man shouted, rising from his chair and pulling out an oddly-shaped sword. It looked like an oversized curved meat cleaver with jagged-toothed design on the back of the blade. He pointed it at the young man, his eyes glaring from underneath the bushiness of his eyebrows, which made him look very imposing and terrifying. "You have no respect for the blade, boyo. You see it as a decoration and a means to an end. You see it as a toy, not a tool. If I sold you one of my swords, it would be wasted on the likes of you, because you would never use it as it was meant to be used. In the end, it would rot away to be forgotten."

By now, the young man was on the floor very nervously staring at the end of the sword. "Now leave, while you are able to stand on your own two legs," the old man said coldly. The young man quickly stood, but staggered as he did so. He quickly turned and ran for the door, roughly bumping into Zuko and Sokka. He didn't bother to leave any form of apology with the two he had bumped into, but he did yell at the sword-wielding old man, "You're crazy, you bastard!" before leaving with a slam of the door.

The old man groaned, and held a hand to his back. "I'm getting too old for this,"

Sokka and Zuko looked hesitantly at the old man, unsure if he would drive them away as well. A scolding voice from the back called out to the old man.

"Grandpa, I can't believe you drove away another customer!" a slightly pudgy but pretty young woman stepped out from the back room, and she crossed her arms. "That's why our store isn't doing well…"

"When you become a professional blacksmith you'll understand," he retorted.

The two finally noticed the three figures in their presence. The girl smiled, and clasped her hands. "Customers!" Turning to her grandfather, she said quite seriously, "I'll handle these."

Bowing to them, she said, "How may I help you? Our swords are among the best."

"These two need swords," Zoro said, jabbing a thumb at Sokka and Zuko. The old man peered at Zoro suspiciously, before saying, "Three swords… You wouldn't happen to be Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, would you?"

"So what if I am?"

"And those two are your friends, hm?" the old man seemed to say that mostly to himself as he stroked his beard. "I've heard some very interesting things about you, Roronoa Zoro," the old man said, with a sly smile on his face. He turned to Zoro's companions, and said, "So you're swordsmen too, eh?"

"Yes, sir!" Sokka said quickly, standing very erect. He was somewhat worried that the old man would kick them out. The old man smiled and said, "Then we'll pick out your swords for you,"

Zuko was about to protest, but Sokka stopped him. "If you say anything we may get kicked out like that guy earlier!"

Zuko complied, but it seemed that even if he had been able to protest, he would have been ignored anyway, because now the old man was talking to his granddaughter.

"Anya, take a good look at those two young men." He was saying. "Can you tell which swords would suit those two best?"

Anya looked over at Sokka and Zuko hesitantly. "If you are going to become a great blacksmith, you must be able to tell which swords are best for a person. It is only by chance that a sword finds its owner. But there are times that a blacksmith must become the voice, arms, and legs of a sword. This is exactly what I taught your father."

Anya studied the two young men before her before pointing to Zuko, and said, "Let me guess, you're a dual sword-user right?"

"Yes…" Zuko started, and Anya presented him with swords that looked very similar to Dual Dao swords, except the blades were slightly more twisted, looking somewhat like flames. A large, round ruby stone decorated the hilts of the swords.

"These are the swords for you," Anya said definitely.

Zuko picked up the swords, and took a stance. The swords had an amazing balance, and they felt like they were extensions of his very self. The swords also had a particular energy that made Zuko feel as if the swords themselves were living things.

"Those swords are among our finest," the old man explained. "There is sea-stone in the blade, in the case you come up against any Logia Devil Fruit users. It's even more effective if you have the use of Haki. Wapometal was also incorporated into the blade, making it incredibly sturdy and nearly indestructible."

"This is amazing," Zuko said, weighing the sword in his hand.

"Now for you," Anya said, and she presented Sokka with a jian-looking sword. It was silver, roughly three-feet long, with a flat, round guard that had a lightning pattern wreath carved into it. A shimmering green and gold vine pattern was incorporated into the blade. A long braided rope with a tassel of a dark blue decorated the pommel. Sokka lifted the sword, and found that it was much lighter than he expected. He could feel the sword's energy flowing through him. This was the sword for him that was for sure.

"I made this one myself," Anya announced proudly, "My blood, sweat, and tears went into forging this sword."

"It's great! It's perfect!" Sokka admired.

"If I may ask," Zuko started, sheathing his swords, "why did you kick out that last guy yet help us so willingly? Especially when you found out who Zoro was? What kind of name is Pirate Hunter, anyway?"

Zuko directed that last question at Zoro, who only shrugged. "I was a former bounty hunter. Had to make money somehow."

The old man laughed at Zoro's direct response, then answered Zuko's question.

"Because I can tell that you are true swordsmen. You have respect and love for your swords. A sword is a tool yes, but it is more than that. It is an extension of you, at least it should be. Plus, I've heard of the legendary Roronoa Zoro. Who hasn't?"

He laughed again, took a drink from his jug and said, "He's a legendary man who respects his swords. Of course I would help out his friends."

Zuko looked at Zoro out of the corner of his eye, wondering _Just _who_ are we traveling with?_

Turning to the shop owners, Sokka smiled. "Then… you wouldn't mind helping us out with one last thing?"

"And that would be?" Anya asked.

"Can I use the forge? And some of your materials?"

"I guess so…" Anya said.

"Great! I'll be right back guys. Promise!"

Sokka was led to the back by Anya, and the old man offered Zoro and Zuko a drink and a bite to eat while they waited. The old man was called Marn, and he told the two stories of his youth. Zuko and Zoro told him about their travels as well, but Zuko left out the parts about him being a formerly banished prince, and being from another World for that matter.

It was also through the course of this conversation that Zuko learned something about Zoro; his aspiration to become the world's greatest swordsman because he had made a promise with a friend. Zuko noticed how Zoro held his white sword as he said this. A look of sadness or longing came over Zoro's normally unreadable expression, but it was brief. Zuko estimated that Zoro probably didn't even realize that he had made such an expression.

A few hours later, Sokka appeared with another weapon: a boomerang. With Sokka's instructions on exactly what he wanted and needed, Anya was able to make a fine boomerang that any Southern Water Tribe warrior would be proud of.

"What kind of weapon is that?" Zoro asked incredulously. He had seen quite a few strange weapons before, but not one like this. It certainly looked quite useless. But Sokka gave Zoro a hurt look, and defended, "It's a boomerang. It's a perfectly reliable weapon that always comes back, no matter what. Never doubt the boomerang, Zoro."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever…" turning to Marn, Zoro asked, "how much do we owe you?"

"How about you just pay us for the jian and the materials used? The jian is one of my granddaughter's, and it is of her finest work. She should at least be paid for her love and hard work." suggested Marn. "Your stories let me relive my youth, and I can see that you will love your swords just as much as we loved making them."

* * *

After paying, the three began to walk around the town to see what else there was on the island. There were numerous other shops selling strange wares made out of either rock or metal or both. They decided to head to the Tower, where they ended up meeting Luffy and the others. They had apparently also run into Sanji on the way, because everyone was carrying some sort of food stuff. Luffy of course was holding some of the "boring" goods that couldn't be eaten until they were boiled in water or something. Luffy loudly protested this, but his complaints fell on deaf ears as no one would respond or trade their "exciting" packages with him.

At the sight of Zuko and Sokka, Aang smiled. "We found some really cool souvenirs! We'll show you guys when we get back!"

When everyone had finally arrived back at the Sunny, Franky and Kin'emon had made the necessary repairs and had fueled the ship with cola. After putting everything away, Aang had to show off some of the things that they had bought. A Wapometal top that released little sparks when it was spun, some carved figurines of people and animals, a few spools of Wapometal cables, and an odd blue mask that was very reminiscent of the Blue Spirit. Aang thought that the last one would make for a good joke.

All in all, everyone felt that it was a profitable trip. Nami sighed heavily. "I hope all the islands are at least this peaceful…"

"Don't say that, Nami…" Usopp started, and then finished with a whisper "you'll jinx it!"

Nami only gave Sokka an annoyed look, and inspected the Log Pose. The needle was steadying now, and at that very moment, the needle turned black and turned to dust.

"I guess we can select a new Log Pose now," Nami said.

"I get to do it!" Luffy called out, and before anyone could do anything he had stretched and selected a Log Pose from the sack.

Chopper, Usopp, and Nami's heads all hung in defeat, and dark clouds loomed over them.

"With our luck, it will be an island of chaos…"

"Well, whatever it is," Sokka said, eager to set off again, "we'll be ready for it!"

Those of the crew who did not share Sokka's optimism only glared him, but they prepared to set sail with Luffy sitting on his special seat, a grin very apparent on his face.

* * *

**A/N: ** In response to Avatoa- Thank you for taking the time to read and leave reviews! Yeah, Zuko and Mai did get back together for a while, but broke up in _The Promise Part 2._ You can read it at Manga Eden (I think). I know Zuko had a daughter, and I hope that in the next season of _The Legend of Korra_ we get to see Zuko and are told who his wife and daughter are.

And yeah, Alnico having magnetic abilities- he also has magnetic powers, but in a different form. People can have similar Devil Fruit abilities, but be different. Sort of like Monet having the Yuki-Yuki no Mi and Aokiji having the Hie-Hie no Mi. Both have some sort of frozen water ability, yet are different. Unlike Kid, who can simply activate his abilities and have metal come to him (and his ability seems to revolve around electromagnetism), Alnico has to have direct physical contact with the metal before being able to doing anything with it. If Alnico were to face up against Kid… well, he'd have his ass handed to him and then some. Plus, he assumes that he is strong simply because he has Devil Fruit powers. Alnico is relatively weak compared to the characters that are coming in future chapters.

And to clear up any confusion (just in case) No one in Team Avatar is going to learn Haki, I'm afraid… It took Luffy a year and a half to master it, and it wouldn't really be fair for someone to learn it so quickly. Plus I would have to do a lot of rewriting.


	11. Rulebending

**A/N: Well, I went out of town for two weeks, and wanted to have Chapter 10 and this one up before I left, but couldn't finish in time due to major life **salutes to Major Life** events going on. So here it is!**

**I have so many ideas for upcoming chapters, it's a shame I simply can't shell them out fast enough. I have upcoming villains, Spirits, and other characters that I really hope you will like, detest, and enjoy. **

** Although I've made up a few of the upcoming Spirits, many are inspired by real myths and folklore, but I've taken some liberties with them and have exaggerated their abilities and powers quite a bit. **

**Thank you for your support in reading, reviewing and even faving and following this story. It really is an encouragement. Now please enjoy the chapter!**

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_Chapter 11: Rulebending_

It had just been a few Human World days prior that Cyprus and Pukje showed up at the Wood between the Worlds, and Cyprus had flung himself up against the trees' roots in a mix of pain and burning anger. Thankfully, Pukje had quickly leapt from the Kelpie Spirit's back before getting crushed between Cyprus and the trees' roots. He watched in fascination as Cyprus was cursing in some foreign language and slamming up against the trees' roots. Cyprus paused for a moment to study the scar that a certain swordsman had left him with.

"This is permanent!" Cyprus shouted to no one in particular, slamming up against a thick root with his injured side. How had that swordsman known that he was there? Quite obviously, the swordsman had been hindered while under the water, but he had unleashed a very powerful and painful attack upon Cyprus. Cyprus unwittingly flinched at the memory. The very thought of the swordsman sent fear through every inch of his Kelpie body. It annoyed and unnerved Cyprus that a mere Human could do this to him, a Spirit! Here was Cyprus the Kelpie Spirit, Guardian of the Wood between the Worlds _unnerved_ by a mere, _mortal_ Human! Where had his pride gone?!

He now had a scar that would outlive that Human. A constant reminder of how close he had come to death.

Cyprus finally stopped slamming himself against the roots and took a few deep ragged breaths before sinking into the water up to his jaw upper jaw. The water had a cooling effect on his body, but it took much longer to ease his raging temper. Once he had calmed down somewhat, Pukje tentatively asked, "Are you alright, Guardian?"

Cyprus fixed Pukje with a glare. "I'm in this situation because of you, Troublemaker. I thought that I was finding mere sailors to guide the Avatar—"

"As I recall, you volunteered to find guides!" Pukje quickly defended. "My job was to find our players, and to set up the rules of the game, along with finding suitable randomized islands that would entertain the guests of the Woods between the Worlds!"

"It's _Wood_ between the Worlds, by the way, Troublemaker. And I had no idea what we would be going up against by choosing those particular guides. You made one too many enemies with this situation, Troublemaker. You have made some very powerful, very angry enemies with this game—"

"What could they possibly do to—"

Rising up out of the water and towering over Pukje, his gills and fins flaring out, Cyprus shouted, _"LET ME FINISH!"_

The outburst was so sudden, the other Spirits stopped whatever they were doing and stared, and a few even shrunk back. Pukje was one of the latter. He simply stared up at the Kelpie-Spirit, shut his mouth and complied with his demand.

"Anyway, you have made some very powerful enemies, and I will no longer be a part of this game in the sense that I myself will be personally aiding you. You can use the Fish for all I care, but leave me out of this game."

"Wait, you're blaming me?!" Pukje asked, his anger becoming quite evident.

"These people, whoever they are, have strange powers. I nearly met my death to one of them! I'm relieved that it was not the Captain that I faced, nor do I intend to face him. _You_ can do that. Now leave me be, Troublemaker. After this game is over, I no longer wish to see you. Never, _ever_ again. And _if_ I see you in my Woods ever again, I promise you here and now that you will meet your end."

And with that, Cyprus dove into the water and disappeared. Pukje was angry and frustrated with Cyprus, but he didn't have much time to dwell on it as Neko-Mi was calling him over to her. It was then that Pukje finally took notice of numerous new Spirits, many of whom were surrounding Neko-Mi. Pukje joined the small circle, and saw that the Spirits had a small pile of gold, jewels and numerous other mystical objects in the center of the lily pad that they were all sitting on. Pukje couldn't help but eye the treasure, something that Neko-Mi quickly took notice of.

"Do you like beautiful things, Troublemaker?" she asked, picking up a string of sparkling beads and letting them intertwine in between her fingers. "You know, there are those of us taking bets on whether or not the Avatar and his friends are going to make it back home… I'm one of the ones betting that he won't."

She eyed Pukje carefully before continuing. "I bet quite a bit of my treasure, you know. And I don't like losing. If I win, more than half of my winnings will be yours."

Pukje smiled, for he realized what sort of game that Neko-Mi had in mind all along. Sure, the Avatar could have help getting back, but that didn't mean he was going to make it.

"I have other friends here who don't like losing either." Neko-Mi placed the beads back into the treasure pile, and ran her hand through the pile. "They will be more than happy to ensure their victory."

"Why do you have so much hatred for the Avatar?" Pukje asked, genuinely curious.

"The Avatar took everything from me, a long time ago. Now, I will take everything from him. It is only fair, after all. Equivalent exchange, and all that," Neko-Mi responded with cold bitterness and anger in her voice.

"Now, now," a Bear Spirit said slowly. "Let's just have fun. That's what this whole thing is about, anyways. At least it is for me. I like having fun."

A beautiful female Spirit sighed, "Let's just see which one of us gets to go first," she stretched and sighed. "Which one of us confronts the Pirates first? That silly Kelpie-Spirit is a Guardian, and is not suited for battle, silly Spirit. It's no wonder he lost and got injured like he did, then he blames little Troublemaker, how silly of him. Sore, silly loser…"

"These Pirates have strange abilities, mind you." Pukje warned. "One of them managed to cut me with his sword without ever actually coming into contact with me, but it was more of an annoyance if anything else."

If Pukje had been honest with the other Spirits at that moment, he would have told them about the brief fear that he had had when he was cut by seemingly nothing. How fortunate he was that he had a disassembling ability, and that he had wondered what could have potentially been done to him. About how a single look from the man he had slapped that C-seal onto was enough to make Pukje not want to have personally anything to do with the Pirates any longer. Pukje would not reveal any of this. About the man in a straw hat who sent chills down his spine with a mere look and simple words. No, Pukje would be saying nothing about any of that, either.

He didn't want to lose the chance at getting treasure, and these Spirits were the ones that could help ensure him getting that treasure. Instead, Pukje came up with other plans to hopefully detain the Avatar. He had a few Spirit friends who owed him favors. They would most certainly jump at the chance to get their hands on some treasure. And of course Pukje would not tell them how much treasure there actually was. And of course, by having others confront the Pirates before he actually had to (if it came down to that, and hopefully it wouldn't) meant that he could at least know what they were capable of and he could try and prepare.

Pukje pulled some straws out of his hat, and held them up in his fist for the participating Spirits to draw. "The one with the red tip will be the first to go," he explained. "Afterwards, I'll talk with a few friends of mine. They're also bored, but don't like watching games; they'd much rather be participating in them."

The Spirits each drew straws, and the beautiful female Spirit drew the red tipped straw.

"Oh, my," she said with a smile, and she put a hand to her cheek. "Does this mean I get to go first?"

"Yes."

"Oh, yay! I can't wait to start playing. Tell me, Troublemaker, are the men on the Pirate crew handsome? I only add the good looking ones to my collection. Tee hee."

"I suppose," Pukje replied hesitantly. "I've never looked at Humans that way before."

"Ohhh, well. I'll find out when I meet them." She twirled her hair. "Are the women beautiful? I don't like it when they are more beautiful than me. If they are, I'll steal their beauty from them and make them ugly.

"My sisters envy my beauty too. The last time I saw Surriento, her eyes were bluer than mine, and I can't have that. My eyes need to be blue with hints of other colors in them. I've stolen the eyes of women so I can have this pretty, pretty effect. See?"

She pointed to her blue eyes, which indeed showed hints of other colors in them, much like light reflecting in the ocean. They were quite beautiful.

"And then there's my little sister, Paestum," she sounded quite bitter to the point of sounding like she was whining. "She's collected so many men, and everyone fauns over her. But no one pays attention to the fact that she picks up low-lifers and stragglers. No one sees that she doesn't pay attention to the quality of her men, that she'll take _any_ man if she can. Unlike _me_," She brushed her blond hair that had various shades of blue and green highlights behind her ear before continuing. "I want to claim these big, bad Pirates as my own. Then, everyone else will see that I, Kapri, am the most beautiful and have the more lovely voice compared to that of my sisters."

She dove into the water and was about to leave, when she asked, "How do I find them? I don't know where they are. Somebody will have to show me. I'm so silly, silly for not knowing these things. I think I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll just wait here until I know where they are."

She then climbed back onto the lily pad, saying, "I don't mean that I'll wait in the water. I mean that I'll wait in this spot right here. It's more comfy. Besides, wherever the Pirates are, it's not the right time to meet them anyways. The setting isn't right just yet. If I go too soon, I'll look so, so silly."

Pukje doubtfully eyed the beautiful female Spirit, wondering what she could actually be capable of. She didn't seem to be that smart, and she seemed more interested in combing her hair, deeply studying her reflection whenever she saw herself, and complaining about her two sisters who were jealous of her, yet it seemed that she envied them as well. The way she talked about them it seemed that they had beauty and possessions that she desired, yet did not want because they had them, therefor those possessions had been somehow tainted.

Before the girl could go on another tangent, Pukje quickly spoke up. "Ah, I'll have an orb sent out so that we can view them. I know where they are…"

"Oh, do show me!" Kapri said, jumping up from her sitting position. "And hurry up!" A shadow passed over her face, and for a brief moment, Pukje thought that she looked rather ugly. Even though Pukje was not one to find other Spirits attractive, he had to admit that Kapri was quite alluring, even with her faults. But that ugly shadow was so brief that Pukje thought that he must have imagined it.

Pukje sent out an orb so that he and the other Spirits could observe the Avatar and his Pirate guides. The weather in this particular Human World was quite fickle; it either stormed terribly with wind, rain, and lightning, or even a mix of the three, or there was nothing at all. The orb kept getting thrown off course, so Pukje really had to focus and guide the orb to where he wanted it. So it was a bit of a struggle to find the players of the Spirits' game.

Upon finally finding the Pirates and their ship, there was a shout of triumph on Pukje's part. Kapri stared into the orb, watching each of the men carefully. She watched how they moved about the ship, and studied their faces.

"I like them," she said with a giggle, and her eyes narrowed. "I could just devour them whole! I've never seen Humans who look quite like that, before. They will make my collection quite beautiful. Surely, my sisters will be jealous of me!"

It was then someone on the ship must have spotted the orb, because everyone had stopped what they were doing and their full attention was suddenly on the orb. This also gave Kapri a chance to see the women of the crew, and even though they couldn't hear her, she threatened to steal their beauty out loud as if they could.

They watched the crew for a few moments longer when suddenly something black and shiny flew at the orb, and the image cracked and faded. Pukje sighed at the loss of his orb. But the other Spirits were quite excited, especially Kapri. She clasped her hands, and her eyes sparkled.

"I can't wait to make those men mine," she then turned to Pukje, "Troublemaker, guide me to where they are so I can meet them! I wish to claim them!"

"If the Siren fails, then I'm next… I wanted to go this time…" the Bear Spirit spoke up slowly. His comments lead to Kapri having various shadows pass over her face before turning to the Bear Spirit in anger, demanding,

"Do you think I will fail?! How weak do you think I am?"

While that was going on, Pukje went about sending another orb out to find the Pirates. Once he was able to figure out the general direction they were headed for a second time, he instructed to follow the second orb he was going to send out, and she nodded her understanding.

"I'm going to have so, so much fun!" an overjoyed Kapri was saying in a singsong voice. "My sisters are going to envy me so, so much!"

And with that, Kapri set out to find the Pirates and the Avatar.

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**A/N**: To Artemis Decibal. Thanks for the review! If I can somehow work in some of the awesome vice-admirals that are out there, I will. If they do show up, I want to make sure that they have a part to play, and aren't there just to say, "Hey, vice-admiral Smoker is here! And now he's gone." You just have to look at Gambit in X-men Origins: Wolverine to get exactly how I don't want to write such amazing characters.


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